The Pike County Schools Board of Education made approvals regarding new coaching positions for eSports and discussed the district’s growing eSports program during a recent board meeting.
The board approved creating five eSport coaching positions, with one assigned to each of the five high schools, with a stipend of $1,000 per year. eSports, or electronic sports, is organized, competitive video gaming where students can compete against other schools’ teams and play games, such as League of Legends or Rocket League, during a regular season. The sport is regulated and sanctioned through the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
Superintendent Reed Adkins said that the KHSAA had approved eSports as a sport around three years ago while he served on the KHSAA Board of Directors. The sport, he said, can offer more opportunities for students to receive scholarships from different colleges and universities.
“We’re actually going to be offering eSports at each of the five high schools this year, and at this point, several colleges and universities are offering scholarships to students in this eSports situation,” Adkins said.
Pike County Schools’ Director of Technology Clayton Potter said that the district’s teams currently consist of about five players, though that number can increase, and there is a small entry fee in order to compete in a season.
“I have spoken to all of the high schools, and they all are interested in it and would like to buy some pretty nice gaming computers for them, some furniture,” Potter said. “The schools said they would all be willing to invest in the sport.”
eSports teams play year-round during fall and spring seasons and, because of this, Adkins said he believes the $1,000 stipend is fair for the coaches each year.
“It is a year-round sport so asking for $1,000 per coach is not too much in my opinion,” he said. “I recommend that we at least do that. If not do this now, then talk about more later or an assistant or things of that sort.”
Adkins addressed a question that KHSAA had received from some concerned parents regarding whether the eSports video games are violent or non-violent. He explained that the video games that are played in eSports competitions are non-violent.
“KHSAA has been very diligent in that they are not going to allow our students to be exposed to anything that’s not going to be a positive for them,” Adkins said. “We don’t have to worry about that. The games they sanction are good for our kids.”
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