Gaming for Good

This spring, the Washington College Esports Club raised over $1,000 for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center through a livestreamed 16-hour gaming marathon featuring five professors and Esports Club founding alumni as part of Children’s Miracle Network’s Extra Life program. 

The Club boasts a roster of more than 70 members, including more than 20 on competitive Esports teams. The club set a new record on its Twitch channel with more than 1,000 views, 276 hours watched, and 36 hours streamed. And the competitive teams hit milestones of their own. All three (Super Smash Bros., Marvel Rivals, and Rocket League) finished with an even or winning record in a semester, and the club achieved its first overall winning record across an academic year. The Marvel Rivals and Rocket League teams qualified for the playoffs and recorded the program’s first-ever playoff wins.

“This success is driven by our student leaders. Team captains Johan Cardenas ’28, Elizabeth McCormick-Fischer ’28, and Walker Patino ’29 serve as player-coaches—organizing practices, preparing game plans, and making tough calls,” said Steve Kaneshiki, the College’s coordinator of campus recreation and advisor to the Esports Club. “Johan, Elizabeth, Tristan Gage ’28, Conor Deady ’28, and Karlis Povisils ’26 make up the Esports Club Executive Board. Their leadership has transformed the club into a thriving community. They’ve built something the entire campus can be proud of.”

Povisils, the secretary of the Esports Club (and Smash Bros competitor), encouraged any students with even a casual interest in the games they play competitively to give it a try. He initially joined for on-campus events like Smash Bros and Mario Kart tournaments and grew into a competitive player in his junior year. In the fall, the Esports Club plans to expand with at least three new teams: Overwatch, Madden, and EA College Football. 

Povisils also said that the club can meet student interest in new games and stay competitive in their conference thanks to support from the Student Government Association, which recently funded upgrades to the computers the club needed (and then upgrades to the electrical system in Goldstein Hall because the new computers were so powerful they kept tripping breakers).  

Whether competing against other schools online from their dedicated space in Goldstein or against fellow Washington College students in the Goose Nest for a casual tournament, Esports Club members find connection through their shared love of games.

“There’s something irreplicable about being part of a team,” said Solomon Bradley ’29, Super Smash Bros competitor. “You’re with a group of wonderful people for multiple hours a week every week, trying to achieve the same goal, trying to better yourself, trying to better each other. And you’re all brought together by doing something you love.”

—Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven