New Era of Sport

The fastest-growing sector in college and university sports— by far—is a new player to the game: Esports. “Nothing else is even close to that,” says Dennis Jezek, director of athletic communications. So it made sense that students supported Barry’s decision in 2019 to create an Esports program, similar to programs at schools across the country, including Ohio State, Georgia State, and UC-Irvine.

“Esports has a lot of student engagement. It has a lot of applications for college athletics,” says Jezek, “so that’s the primary reason why Esports was targeted as the first new intercollegiate varsity sport since 1998.” A newer professional sport, Esports involves video gaming leagues and teams that compete in organized, multiplayer video game competitions. They often feature games that have risen in the era of streaming internet and include Fortnite, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Madden NFL. Professional gaming today is a billion-dollar, international industry.

So, a Barry program? Sure. But a varsity sport? Absolutely, says Lance Hotchkiss, head coach of the program. 

Says Hotchkiss, who came to Barry from St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, FL., where he launched their successful Esports program. “These athletes are expending a lot of mental effort, and they’re playing with their team, and there is a lot of strategy involved. I think those are the core things that make a sport a sport.”

Think of Esports in the way you think of a more traditional athletic program. Just as you have soccer, basketball, football, and volleyball teams, Esports teams are, likewise, made around specific games: Call of Duty, Fortnight, FIFA, and more.

Barry players are gearing up for tournament season—and there’s a lot of excitement around the Call of Duty team, made up of Thomas Oswald ’23, Theodore Vu ’25, Robert Diaz ’25, and Angel Soto ’25. The foursome will train in the Arena, a room at Barry with 20 gaming computers, LED lights, a dedicated fiber internet connection, and massive screens. Their win-loss record in the College Call of Duty League is 7-0, as they move on to pool events in the Southeast Division. Hotchkiss suspects the team will make it to the division “LAN event,” during which 64 teams all compete on the same host server: “If they finish top eight or top 16, they go to Texas for a $20,000 prize tournament.” And they have a fair shot: The team of four is ranked 13 among the top 25 college CoD teams, and already have wins against the teams ranked 10 and 11.

“The university did a good job of setting us up for success,” says Hotchkiss. New Era of Sport Barry has added its first new varsity sport since 1998— and it’s not like any you’ve seen before.