A new arena: Pitt County Schools planning to launch esports

On Friday after school, Ja’tavion Newkirk and his teammates change into their jerseys to get ready for game time and then head to the media center to take a seat in front of a screen.

They are not here to scout their opponents or analyze video footage to prepare for competition. For members of D.H. Conley Esports, what is happening on screen is the competition as team members vie for video game victory.

Since when is playing video games after school a sport?

While the answer to that question is somewhat dependent on the source, 1972 is widely considered the year of the first video game competition. That is the year the “Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics” was held at Stanford University, although the term esports (for electronic sports) wasn’t coined until more than a quarter century later. Today, according to Esports Insider, an independent news publication that covers the industry, esports is a $1.6 billion industry with more than 220 million players.

“The last I looked, it’s the No. 2 most watched sport by viewership under the NFL in the U.S.,” Pitt County Schools Director of Technology Cory Rankin said. “It’s hidden to some of us because it’s not viewed from the same media that traditional sports are.”

But in recent years, esports has moved more and more into the mainstream, with coverage on ESPN and a growing number of programs on college and high school campuses.

As early as next school year, esports is set to make its official debut in Pitt County Schools, with exhibition matches planned for the fall and competition scheduled to begin in the spring of 2026. Although a site for piloting the program has not yet been named, Pitt County Schools has set aside about $65,000 to purchase equipment for the launch.

That’s good news to George Leach, graduation coach at Conley, who this year has led a group of about a dozen students who meet after school for gaming competition.

“I think esports would be a great thing for Pitt County Schools,” said Leach, who participated in competitive video gaming in college. “Right now the (Conley) students just compete against each other. We would love to expand to playing online or playing other students in the county or the district.”

Unlike the more broadly defined “gaming,” esports is an organized competition of games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Fortnite, Call of Duty or Super Smash Brothers. In some cases, games are competitions between professional players with money on the line.

“I can go to the park with four friends and we can throw a football around. That is far different than being paid as an NFL player to play on TV,” Rankin explained. “I can play video games at home with people from around the world for fun or in the case of esports, I could be sponsored.”

At the high school level, the anticipated payoff is different. Participating in esports is said to offer some of the same benefits as taking part in traditional sports, helping students hone skills including problem-solving, leadership and collaboration. But unlike traditional sports, Rankin said, esports have the potential to engage students who might not have the interest or ability to participate in other sports.

While health experts are exploring potential long-term risks of competitive gaming, including repetitive motion injuries, eye strain, stress and sleep disruption, Leach has seen positive effects for participants at Conley, especially in terms of socialization.

“That was the main thing for me was just giving the kids who are less social in a traditional sense a place that they feel they can belong and they want to come and participate and make new friends,” he said.

Conley sophomore Ja’tavion Newkirk has been playing games like Super Smash Brothers since childhood. When he joined the after-school club, he was more familiar with the video game titles than the names of his teammates. But he has since found a friend group, and he sees expanding esports in Pitt County Schools as a way to help others do the same.

“I think it would bring people who are quiet and like to be self-contained out more because those are the type of people who game and love to do that kind of stuff,” he said. “It’s growing them in a way, bringing them in bigger groups of people so they won’t feel as small.”

Fellow sophomore Hailey Clem enjoys getting to hang out with other teens who share her love of games like Zelda and Pokemon. She doesn’t mind the fact that she is one of few girls in the group.

“Gaming doesn’t require anything a girl can’t do as well as a guy,” she said.

Beyond socialization, Rankin said, esports can lead to opportunities for scholarships at schools like the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, which offers an esports management concentration within the hospitality and tourism management program. The university is home to a 3,300-square-foot esports arena that opened in 2022.

The following year, Varsity Esports League, the first ever public school esports league in North Carolina, began competition. Today, some 300 schools across the state are involved. VESL was created by Charlotte-based Stiegler EdTech, an organization that seeks to bridge the gap between education and employment through technology, providing STEM, esports and other nontraditional alternative education programs.

While esports can be played anywhere, Rankin said PCS is aiming for a format in which two teams of five or six players compete in person.

“We want to do this in person so that we can have coaches there to help students navigate the online world,” he said. “We can coach, we can learn teamwork. We can model how the industry operates.”

Rankin said skills utilized in esports lend themselves to a number of careers both inside and outside the gaming industry, including game analysis, broadcasting, IT support, equipment maintenance and content creation.

Pitt County Board of Education member Jennifer Hodgson said the local school district’s plan to launch esports demonstrates the kind of “out-of-the box” thinking that is seen in its robotics programs.

“Our kids need to figure out ways to apply the learning,” she said. “The way that we’re going to get our science scores up, our math scores up and our reading is we teach them that these things can be fun.”

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, overall, 85% of teens nationwide say they play video games. Four in 10 identify as gamers.

“The younger generation, it’s been here for them perhaps their entire lives in some cases. It’s just everyone else not being aware of it, understanding it,” Rankin said. “School districts move slower than most things for good reason. We have to see the data. We have to see the research, and we have to be able to connect it to our mission.

“Our instructional leaders will often talk about meeting the students where they are,” he said. “That’s what this is, too.”