Esports in New Mexico has shown phenomenal growth in popularity and numbers since its beginning over 7 years ago, where scattered clubs began to appear in high schools. While gaming has been popular for decades, the introduction of gaming with a group broke the mold of misunderstanding and brought adrenaline to the concept of in-person, club gaming. Suddenly esports was a way to reach, meet, and engage with others in a healthy environment that saw a cohesive unit working together. Whether in a club or a tournament setting, this brought communication and a cooperative effort within the team setting and was the birth of esports’ new age.

Stats from the New Mexico Activities Association tell the story. Ninety schools from 45 districts around the state with over 2,000 students and 150 coaches met last year for the annual championships. This presents an amazing contrast from 2019’s first tournament games. Albuquerque Public Schools started in 2018 with less than 100 students in a handful of high schools. Now, esports is in 40 schools with more than 1,200 students in elementary, middle, K-8, and high schools. New Mexico’s pipeline colleges all have teams and clubs bursting with members eager to compete with each other, and with institutions around the country and the world.

As esports has grown, so has the concept of Scholastic   Esports where students engage, learn, lead, and grow as they meet 21st century skills while gaming. Career choices go far beyond becoming a professional gamer as these students find their way to Graphic Arts, Data  Analytics, Management and much more. While parents and teachers once looked at esports negatively, they now view it as a way to build community and enhance friendships as students find pathways to college and career.

Esports is awesome for students and for the culture of community it brings in a cooperative environment where they practice teamwork, learn to strategize, and develop pride in an activity they can pursue systematically as a group. All students deserve to find their place in our rapidly growing global society and esports builds community in easily transferrable skills that already dominate our digital economy. Let’s grow New Mexico’s future by supporting esports!

This blog was contributed by Laurie Lehman, Esports Project Manager at Albuquerque Public Schools and leader of the NASEF Affiliate in the region. Find more info about Laurie and her inspiring work in scholastic esports at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurieclehman/.