LAKELAND, Fla. — Florida Polytechnic University is taking competitive video gaming a step further.
On Friday, the university celebrated the opening of its new Esports Arena.
What You Need To Know
- Florida Polytechnic University opened the new $300,000 Esports Arena, which features 20 fully loaded gaming stations
- Participation in eSports is growing on campus, and university leaders say scholarships are planned in the future
- Team captain Jannice Rivera says she hopes the expanded program encourages more women to join eSports as they gain recognition alongside traditional athletics
In the world of eSports, student Jannice Rivera stands out.
“I wish more women and more girls felt at home and in a community with eSports, but as eSports has been evolving, we’ve been welcomed a little more and more as time goes on,” Rivera said.
The 21-year-old became the captain of Florida Polytechnic’s eSports varsity teams a little over a year ago. She is one of just three women who are part of the sports program. It’s a space she has been familiar with since learning how to play video games at a young age.
“I was able to, thankfully, get my longtime best friends, that are still friends with me, I was able to get them into it, and we all just started playing together,” she said. “And even though the community wasn’t as welcoming to women back then, that was like 2008/2009. With having friends in it doing it with me, I already felt more comfortable.”
Rivera said that pushed her to apply to Florida Poly to play on a larger scale.
Over time, university leaders said they’ve seen more students become drawn to the digital sport. So far, Florida Poly President Devin Stephenson said the school has about 130 players across 14 teams.
“And now that we have the arena in place, I can tell you, as many young people say today, ‘it’s going to blow up.’ And it will become extremely popular,” Stephenson said.
The new eSports arena is equipped with 20 fully loaded gaming stations. The roughly $300,000 facility was partially paid for with presidential discretionary funds, which Stephenson said was worth every penny.
“This is a very rigorous curriculum that we have here, so we need more and more student development opportunities for them outside of the labs, outside of the classrooms, and eSports gives them that sort of vetting to stretch themselves beyond the pressure of the classroom,” he said.
Florida Poly leaders said the goal is to help players compete on the same level as traditional athletics. The school eventually plans to offer several scholarships to students, and Rivera said she’s looking forward to that.
“The little girl in me feels really excited,” she said. “Now, as time goes on, we’re getting recognized as an actual athletic department. We’re an actual sport, and it can be very lucrative. We have the same sponsors that normal athletics do. We compete in the same way; it’s just in a different setting, and I feel like we can reach a lot of people.”
She said she hopes that includes a lot more women, too.
The Esports Arena is open for competition and recreational use. Students can visit and play for fun during select hours throughout the day.
Alexis Jones
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