Local students compete in nationwide esports event

While esports — or electronic sports — continues to grow at exponential pace throughout the world, students at The Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children have been competing for several years.

Esports are video games that are played in a highly organized competitive environment, according to an article in the Harvard International Review.

Students at The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and The Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children recently competed in the first ever in-person National Deaf Scholastic Esports Championship April 12 in Pittsburgh.

Before the event, the schools combined each of their elementary, high school teams with teams from Abington Heights High School to form the Western PA/Comets hybrid sports team.

At the event last month, each school played seven games.

Students competed in many games, including “Overmatch 2,” “Rocket League,” Nintendo’s “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” and “Street Fighter 6.”

Other schools competed in the event, including:

• American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Conn.

• California School for the Deaf in Fremont, Calif.

• Rochester School for the Deaf in Rochester, N.Y.

• West Virginia Secondary School for the Deaf in Romney, W.Va.

During the national tournament, students at the Rochester School for the Deaf won first place overall; and students at The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf won two championships titles in “Overwatch 2,” and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” with two members of the team being named to the all-state team. The teams from West Virginia, California and Connecticut tied for third place.

Where they started

Students at the Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children recently celebrated five years in the esports scene. The program at the school is open to students in grades 2 to 8. To compete, the students must have academic and attendance eligibility. The program has practice sessions, training and safety instruction.

Students from Abington Heights provide the Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children esports program with media support. Abington Heights students Zorina Boersma, Anna Ni and Dannica Winovich attended the national event in April with students from Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children.

“Abington Heights streamlined the connection of the esports team through a livestream,” said Jim Becchetti, assistant principal at Abington Heights High School. “It is not only esports they livestream, but athletics and the National Honor Society. Abington Heights was one of the first schools to do this, and now other schools use it. It has really blossomed.”

Becchetti says the school has a course titled “Leadership Media Class Production” where students learn about production and other behind-the-scenes topics.

“This adds another layer for students’ involvement and highlights their skill set. The experience is valuable to them,” he said.

Carlise Fisher, 14, an eighth grader at The Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children, says his passion for video games makes it a fun experience to compete with classmates.

“I like playing video games, being with my friends and meeting new people. I liked being on the champion team and winning a medal,” he said.

While the program highlighted the importance esports can have on students with disabilities, Doug Boersma, dean of students at The Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children, said it does not stop there.

“Esports are accessible to everyone. The sports competition helps the students to realize they are not alone and there are deaf students all over the country,” Boersma said. “The students develop friendships for the rest of their lives. Over the weekend, they exchanged phone numbers with each other. When they found out they won, they were jumping up and down.”

“I got to interact with a lot of people,” Annabella Rolleri, 12, said. “I like the media area where there is live production.”