SUNY Cobleskill Adding Varsity Esports for Fall

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/29/20

State University of New York Cobleskill intends to added varsity-level esports to its athletics program in the fall. Esports already exists on campus as a club.

Initially, the "Fighting Tigers Varsity Esports" team will do battle in Fortnight, League of Legends and Rocket League. Players will run drills and compete in a purpose-built facility that's part of Warner Hall, which houses the Department of Business & Information Technology as well as a café.

The team will run Alienware computers from Dell and livestream competitions on Twitch.

"Esports requires training, discipline, strategic thinking and teamwork, hallmarks of all our exceptional Fighting Tiger teams," said SUNY Cobleskill President Marion Terenzio, in a statement. "As esports grows with breathtaking momentum, we are very excited to provide our students with an exhilarating opportunity to excel and open doors to burgeoning professional opportunities."

Athletic Director Marie Curran-Headley added that the university team hasn't joined a league yet and intended to compete as an independent during its first season. The school recently participated in the "SUNY Chancellor Esports Challenge."

Tryouts will take place online soon, Curran-Healey noted. Interested players are encouraged to contact her via e-mail.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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