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Esports gaining ground as serious sport in Illinois schools

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Esports gaining ground as serious sport in Illinois schools

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Esports has not been around as long as NCAA basketball but it’s becoming just as popular on some college and high school campuses.

In a FOX 32 special report, we take a closer look at this fast-growing after-school activity.

When classes are done for the day at Naperville North High School, many students head outside to play their favorite sport.

Right now, that’s anything from baseball to tennis to lacrosse.

Even though it’s spring, there are dozens of other students playing another favorite sport—still inside the school.

Esports is also known as competitive video gaming.

“Our varsity and JV teams are not your traditional things you would find perhaps outside in other sports and events at a high school,” said Chris Terpstra. “I have several freshmen on varsity teams and I have several juniors and seniors that might be on the JV team.”

Terpstra is the general manager for Naperville North’s esports team.

When he’s not managing his 80-student roster in the ten different titles they compete in, he’s working in the school’s special education department.

“Everything within esports has a great way of breaking down a lot of the barriers that society has put up for us,” he said. “I think what esports does is allow us to reach out to the students that maybe wouldn’t have an outlet for perhaps their interests. Not everybody is going to go out and compete on an athletic field.”

While Luke Bourgeois was already involved in other school activities when he joined esports last year, he says this one made him feel the most comfortable.

“I’ve never had a club where I could nerd out with my friends as much as this,” Bourgeois said. “I just feel like I belong here.”

This year, the sophomore is on the varsity Super Smash Brothers and Rocket League teams, and he’s captain of the varsity Pokémon Unite team.

He says his parents weren’t very optimistic about him playing esports at first, and then they saw how much success he and his teammates were having.

“At state, they obviously have some college scouts and at this most recent Smash Bros tournament I was talked to by a coach from Syracuse and from Michigan State,” Bourgeois said.

“There’s 20 colleges on the table, but it’s been narrowed down to some of them and the big offer is one of them,” said Hinsdale Central senior David Collins.

That’s how many colleges are trying to recruit Collins to play on their esports teams.

“He is our first to get a scholarship for doing this. He’s the first one to pursue it in college,” said Sam Norris.

Norris is the head of esports at Hinsdale Central High School.

“We’re not the biggest program, but we have our niche. We found it and we really enjoy playing Super Smash Brothers,” he said.

Playing that zone has paid off for them, and they’ve got the hardware to prove it.

Norris says his players are also developing other valuable skills, just as they would playing any other sport, like communication and flexibility.

“A lot of it is the yelling but it is cool to see when they end up strategizing at the tournaments,” Norris said.

“I know for me, personally, I’ve gotten so much out of it and I’ve grown so much as a person through the time and energy that I’ve put into my team and into this program,” said DePaul University senior Kylee Walters.

Walters is one of the 250 students who competes on DePaul’s esports team. She’s a player, a team captain and what’s also called a “Streaming Demon.”

“I know it would be an absolute dream to work somewhere in the gaming and technology industry,” Walters said.

“We just recently expanded this space. We doubled in size because we were hitting a hundred-plus students coming into the gaming center per day because students want to be here,” said Jeffery Fricke-Waters.

Fricke-Waters is the esports coordinator for DePaul.

“Community is at the core of what we do. I have seen so many times students walking in and they know nobody. They really just like playing Fortnite. They walk in to the gaming center and they walk out with their best friends,” he said.

With numbers like that, Fricke-Waters says esports is DePaul’s largest student program.

“We have the most engagement. We have the most students that are coming in having that touch point with the university,” said Fricke-Waters.

He says students who pass through are majoring in several different subjects, not just computers, and that there are different job opportunities to pursue in esports after school.

“Helping to manage teams or you’re doing design work for them, or HR. They are just as much of a company as Verizon,” Fricke-Waters said.

“The gaming industry is bigger than movies and music combined. It’s just what kids are doing and seeing now. It’s how they interact with each other. It’s how they interact with the world a lot of the times,” said Ben Bruce.

Bruce is the chair of the IHSEA, the Illinois High School Esports Association.

Similar to the IHSA, this organization runs full-length seasons for all of the popular video games students are competing in along with a few tournaments—like one called the Midwest Battleground, where high school and college teams from multiple states competed in February.

“We have 120 high schools and over four thousand students competed with us in the last year. We see it continuing to grow,” Bruce said.

According to Statista.com, an online market research database, esports revenue in the U.S. is projected to reach $1.2 billion this year.

“We’ve been gathering data on clubs and organizations inside the high school space,” said Bubba Gaedert.

Gaedert is a senior lecturer at the College of Esports in London and the president of the Video Games and Esports Foundation here in the U.S.

He says studies have shown students involved in esports improve academically.

“So the numbers we have right now as attendance goes up by 10%, which is a big deal. That’s a big number in the education system to have a percentage to go up throughout the school year, as well as a GPA increase of about 1.4,” Gaedert said.

Just like other athletes, many schools require esports teams to keep up their grades and attendance if they want to compete.

With the surge in esports showing no signs of stopping, DePaul’s Streaming Demons may soon be just as popular as its Screaming Blue Demon basketball team.

“I think we are right on the edge to really overpass where some of our athletics are,” Fricke-Waters said.

Both of the high school teams we interviewed practice once a week in person for about two hours and have a few other sessions online.

You also had to try out for these teams and yes, they have playbooks and game tapes to study just like other sports teams.

The Source: The FOX 32 Chicago Investigative Team reported on this story.

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USC Women’s Volleyball Falls to Cal Poly in NCAA Second Round Bout

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December 6, 2025

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LOS ANGELES – The fourth-seeded No. 14-ranked USC women’s volleyball team (25-7) fell in five sets (25-19, 25-20, 20-25, 14-25, 15-7) to Cal Poly (27-7) in the second round of the 2025 NCAA tournament and was eliminated from the postseason at Galen Center on Friday, Dec. 5.
 
KEY PLAYERS

  • Fr. OPP Abigail Mullen led all scorers with 21.5 points earned on a match-high 17 kills (7e, 39att, .256) to go with 10 digs for her eighth double-double. She also had five blocks and two service aces.

  • Fr. S Reese Messer put up her 11th double-double with 46 assists and 11 digs. She also added six blocks (one solo) and had three kills on eight swings (.375).

  • RS So. OH London Wijay had 10 kills (3e, 38att, .184) and 12 digs for her eighth double-double (17th career).

  • RS So. MB Leah Ford had nine kills (1e) on 17 swings to hit .471 and led the team with seven blocks.

  • So. MB Mia Tvrdy played just the last three sets but finished with eight kills on 10 swings (.800) and had two blocks, two digs and a two-handed jump-set assist on a kill by Mullen.

  • Sr. MB Rylie McGinest had six kills (1e, 13att, .385) to go with one block.

  • Fr. LIB Taylor Deckert led the team with 13 digs and added six assists. Sr. LIB Gala Trubint had four digs and a service ace.

  • For the Mustangs, Emma Fredrick led with 17 kills and had 17 digs to lead all players. Kendall Beshear and Annabelle Thalken each had 12 kills. Beshear had 14 digs for the double-double and served a pair of aces. Emme Bullis put up 44 assists with 12 digs for a double-double.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The Mustangs never trailed in the opening frame to grab a 25-19 win. Both teams registered 15.0 points, but the Mustangs committed fewer unforced errors to come out on top. The Trojans had 13 kills with five from McGinest but hit just .146 with seven errors on 41 swings. Cal Poly had just 11 kills but hit .258 and had a 3-1 edge in blocks. Both teams each served an ace, but the Trojans served six errors to the Mustangs’ two in the loss.

  • The teams were tied 13 times and the lead changed hands five times before Cal Poly took a 2-0 lead with a 25-20 win in set two. Mullen had five kills to lead the Trojans, but USC totaled just 10 kills and hit .147 in the set. Both teams had three blocks apiece, but the Mustangs still hit .270 with 15 kills (5e) on 37 swings with five more kills from Beshear. 

  • USC secured a 25-20 set-three win on the second of two service aces from Dani Thomas-Nathan. Tvrdy came in and sparked the Trojans with the first kill of the frame and finished with five on just six swings. Mullen tallied six kills on 12 swings without an error and helped USC hit .326 (18k, 4e, 43att). The Trojans had four blocks to help hold the Mustangs to a .194 attack rate with 10 kills (4e) on 31 swings. USC never trailed and led by five twice before winning by five.

  • Back-to-back Mustang errors broke the eighth and final tie of the fourth and put the Trojans in front, 11-9, en route to a 25-14 win. USC continued to push and moved in front by six, 17-11, on a block by Mullen and Ford. Back-to-back kills from Mullen put USC on top by seven, 19-12, and her tool kill made it a 10-point USC lead at 23-13. Mullen and Wijay each scored four kills in the fourth as the Trojans hit .448 (14k, 1e, 29att) and had three blocks to hold Cal Poly to a .081 hitting percentage with 12 kills (9e) on 37 attacks.

  • Cal Poly broke a three-all tie in the fifth with a 6-0 run and was never threatened on the way to a 15-7 win to seal the 3-2 win. Beshear had a six-serve run that included a service ace to put the Mustangs on top by six, 10-4. The Trojans could get no closer than within five despite every effort. The Mustangs hit .316 with eight kills (2e) on 19 swings over USC’s .091 rate in the fifth with five kills (3e) on 22 attempts.

MATCH NOTES

  • USC fell to 13-6 all-time against Cal Poly. The teams met for the first time since 2012.

  • The Women of Troy fell to 15-4 at home this season and to 231-64 (.783) all-time at Galen Center, which includes a 21-5 mark in NCAA tournament matches.

  • USC goes to 131-45 (.744) all-time in the postseason with an 85-38 (.691) mark in the NCAA tournament.

  • The Trojans fell to 14-11 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

For more information on the USC women’s volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, X, TikTok, and Instagram.
 



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Indiana volleyball vs Colorado NCAA tournament final score, game updates, next

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3 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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7:57 pm ET December 5, 2025

When does Indiana volleyball play next? Indiana volleyball next game, opponent in NCAA tournament

Aaron Ferguson

Details are still to come on the next weekend of the NCAA tournament. The certainties: IU is headed to Austin, Texas as UT hosts that quadrant as the No. 1 seed. The first and second rounds in Austin will finish Saturday night. No. 8-seed Penn State awaits the winner of Texas and Florida A&M in Saturday’s second round match.

7:55 pm ET December 5, 2025

Indiana volleyball celebrates Sweet 16 berth

Aaron Ferguson

Here’s how it looked as IU won its second-round match against Colorado:

7:50 pm ET December 5, 2025

Indiana volleyball highlights in win vs Colorado

Aaron Ferguson

Here’s a look inside Wilkinson Hall for IU’s win:

7:42 pm ET December 5, 2025

Indiana volleyball stats in win vs Colorado

Aaron Ferguson

The Hoosiers hit .378 for the match and had an 11-2 blocking advantage against the Buffs. The serving pressure wasn’t there like it was against Toledo, but IU played solid defensively and were able to clinch its second Sweet 16 appearance — its other was 15 years ago in 2010.

Candela Alonso-Corcelles led the way with 16 kills with just one error on 27 swings, an efficient .556. Freshman Jaidyn Jager added 15 kills (.375). The middles did plenty of work with Madi Sell having seven blocks and Victoria Gray adding four. Avry Tatum also had five blocks with eight kills. Setter Teodora Krickovic had 29 assists, eight digs and three blocks.

Colorado hit .208 for the match, led by Ana Burilovi’s 19 kills (.239) and an efficient seven on 11 swings for Cayla Payne (.545). But nine service errors did not help the Buffs, particularly with five in the first set.



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Kansas women’s volleyball vs Miami (Fl.): NCAA tournament final result

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4 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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Updated Dec. 5, 2025, 8:26 p.m. CT



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Former UH volleyball player, youth coach accused of producing child porn

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4 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A former youth volleyball coach who played on the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team was arrested and charged with production of child pornography, allegedly with a former player.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Hawaii, announced Friday that Elias David, 37, of Waimanalo, was charged by criminal complaint on Dec. 3.

He was employed as a firefighter for the Department of Defense and worked at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Federal Fire Station 9.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the FBI, a 17-year-old told her aunt she was having sexual intercourse with David, who was a family friend and her volleyball coach since she was 13 years old.

Court documents said the teen’s relationship began with David in 2023 after a volleyball trip to Las Vegas. She was 16 at the time.

The teen told investigators that David was providing extra training to prepare her for college. She also admitted to engaging in different types of sexual contact with David that including oral and vaginal sex, documents said.

She also said that their sexual activities occurred at the fire station where he worked, at a nearby warehouse, as well as at David’s home and vehicle, documents said.

David was arrested in July of 2024 for sexual assault in the second degree. He waived his Miranda rights and was interviewed.

During his interview with investigators, David said they “began to develop feelings for each other and ‘fell in love,’” and admitted that he and the teen engaged in a sexual relationship, documents said.

David said that the romantic phase of the relationship began around March 2023, and admitted to ordering ride share services for the teen so she could leave her house to meet him at or near his workplace, documents said.

Investigators said they found 97 graphic videos of the two of them on her phone and 78 emails referring to ride share trips and GPS location data.

David played for the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team in 2009.

If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.



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Iowa State Tops St. Thomas, Advances to Second Round

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4 hours ago

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December 6, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – No. 23 Iowa State (23-7, 12-6 Big 12) won in five against St. Thomas (21-10, 11-5 Summit) in the NCAA Championship First Round Friday night. No. 5-seed ISU advances to the second round to meet the winner of No. 4-seed Minnesota vs. Fairfield tomorrow at 7 p.m.

After St. Thomas took the first 25-21, ISU answered outhitting UST .552-.143 in the second to tie up the match with a set score of 25-13. The Cyclones took the match lead after another dominant set score of 25-16, but St. Thomas would win the fourth 25-21 to extend the match to a fifth. ISU used a 7-0 run in the fifth to flip the momentum and seal the victory.

Big 12 Libero of the Year Rachel Van Gorp was her usual self and had her third-straight match with 20 or more digs, ending the night with a career-high 33. The total is the second-most in an NCAA Tournament match by a Cyclone, and most since 2012. It was also match No. 35 in a row with double-figure digs and her 50th-career match in double figures.

Iowa State had a dominant night at the service line, serving to the fourth 10-plus ace match this season, and 28th of Christy Johnson-Lynch‘s career with 12 through the night. ISU was led by Nayeli Ti’a with five aces to tie the NCAA Tournament school record, while Van Gorp had four, now the second-most in a tournament match.

Alea Goolsby had her 15th match this season with 10-plus kills, leading ISU with 15. Ti’a delivered 14 kills for her 13th match this season with 10-plus, and Lilly Wachholz (12) and Amiree Hendricks-Walker (10) made for four in double figures.

SET ONE

At 6-6, Morgan Brandt tricked St. Thomas with a setter kill while Tierney Jackson served up an ace but UST followed to again knot the score. The Tommies flipped the lead at 11-10 and took the next two as Iowa State called the first timeout. Ti’a slammed down her second kill out of the timeout, but St. Thomas kept with the lead reaching 20 first (20-17). ISU cut its deficit to one at 22-21, but the Tommies ended the first on a run of three for the set win.

SET TWO

Ti’a had a no-doubt kill to make it 1-1, while the Tommies denied ISU the lead while going up 4-2. Goolsby’s third kill tied it, and the Cyclones took their first lead at 6-5 on a block. UST flipped the advantage in its favor briefly, but ISU set out on an 11-0 run to take it right back and run ahead 18-8. A Brandt ace put the Cyclones at set point and an attack error by the Tommies sealed the set at 25-13. ISU did not have a single attack error in the frame.

SET THREE

Back-to-back aces by Ti’a brought Iowa State ahead 6-2, while Ti’a delivered another bringing the scoreboard to 9-2. Goolsby’s seventh kill at .400 capped a Cyclone run of seven on the next play, but a UST scoring run of four came soon after as the Tommies came within three (13-10). Iowa State had a run of four of their own to keep command of the lead, while the Cyclones took the match lead on Goolsby’s 10th kill at 25-16.

SET FOUR

A 4-0 scoring run took the Tommies ahead 7-3 as ISU then called an early timeout. Iowa State would go on to knot the score at 13s on yet another ace by Ti’a, while a UST attack error gave ISU its first lead of the set. That lead was not safe as the Tommies went ahead 19-15 to cause Iowa State’s final timeout of the set. The Cyclones had a late run of three, but St. Thomas pushed on to force a fifth at 25-21.

SET FIVE

Iowa State took the first point on a kill by Ti’a, but St. Thomas followed going ahead 5-2. ISU did not let up, hitting a run of four to take a 6-5 lead and cause a UST timeout. The run stretched to seven as Iowa State switched sides with the lead of 8-5, and Goolsby capped the run next with a kill. ISU would go on to win it 15-8 after a St. Thomas service error.



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Updates, highlights as Wisconsin advances with sweep vs North Carolina

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December 6, 2025

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9:43 pm CT December 5, 2025

See some highlights from Wisconsin’s NCAA tournament win vs North Carolina

John Steppe

9:39 pm CT December 5, 2025

Mimi Colyer’s stats vs. North Carolina in second round of NCAA tournament

John Steppe

  • 22 kills
  • 5 attack errors
  • 42 total attacks
  • .405 hitting percentage
  • 13 digs
  • 3 blocks

9:37 pm CT December 5, 2025

Wisconsin vs. North Carolina NCAA tournament final stats comparison

John Steppe

  • Kills: Wisconsin 60, North Carolina 37
  • Hitting percentage: Wisconsin .365, North Carolina .233
  • Service aces: Wisconsin 2, North Carolina 0
  • Service errors: North Carolina 5, Wisconsin 8
  • Digs: Wisconsin 56, North Carolina 40
  • Total team blocks: North Carolina 6, Wisconsin 5

9:33 pm CT December 5, 2025

Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield comments on Badgers’ NCAA tournament win vs. North Carolina

John Steppe



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