Page 4 • Wednesday , January 12 , 2022 • The Hammonton Gazette
Esports at Hammonton High School , St . Joseph Academy
ESPORTS , from Page 1 teacher Ryan Entress volunteered to be the advisor for the school ’ s esports team .
“ That ’ s another great thing about our staff ; this guy is volunteering his time . That ’ s common when we have a new club ; they volunteer their time to get things off the ground . This has happened before with other things that we start to do that suddenly become very popular , where we have a volunteer advisor who steps up and we get it off the ground ,” Lyons said . Entress explained further . “ They needed an advisor to run it and speak with leagues , and get all the competitive side of things up and going . I said absolutely . I love games ; I ’ m a pretty avid gamer in my free time , so it sounded like the perfect situation ,” Entress said .
One of the challenges , Entress said , was overcoming stigmas that might exist with online video games .
“ People have their own kids , and some of those kids have their own interactions online that aren ’ t the best . The whole thing about esports — and video games in general — is keeping kids away from that , keeping them in these sanctioned matches and leagues that are policed and ran in a professional way , where there ’ s zero tolerance for any of the negative things that come along with this ,” Entress said .
Lyons said that there is very little financial impact to the district ’ s coffers for the team .
“ At one point , I had asked if the kids needed money ; I said that I would go out and get donations for what they need to get started . The kids all use their own equipment ; I don ’ t think you need anything super high-end or fancy . They just get together and they do their thing ... the district covers entrance fees for them to play in tournaments , just like other teams ,” Lyons said .
Lyons said that the effort first began in the spring of 2021 , and the school now has an active team .
“ They ’ re competing , and it ’ s really exciting . There ’ s a lot of kids ; there ’ s a lot of interest . We ’ re really excited to be able to offer one more opportunity for kids ,” Lyons said .
Entress said that the students recently finished the fall season .
“ They just got done playoffs , and we had a student that participated in the Super Smash Bros . tournament in the fall who ended up going all the way to the finals and winning the finals match . As far as where we go from here , I ’ m waiting for contact from the league . He may be moving on to an even higher bracket now because , apparently , this league is national . We ’ re the Atlantic Region , and I guess he gets to possibly progress into a national bracket , but that ’ s pending for the time being ,” Entress said .
Entress said that the playoffs were streamed on Twitch , an online streaming service for gaming .
“ Other people could watch their matches live , being called by shoutcasters ; it ’ s similar to watching an NFL game where they call the gameplay as it happens . That was a really cool experience for some of them ; multiple students got interviewed by the league shoutcasters after the match they won . They ’ re totally amped up and ready to go for the spring ,” Entress said .
At St . Joseph Academy , president and head of school Stephen Cappuccio said that he has read quite a bit on the subject in recent years and knows people who have had success in esports .
“ I ’ ve had some of my former students who have gone on and have participated in colleges , and I actually have a former student who is an advisor / coach of a team in a college . It ’ s an opportunity that I wanted to extend to our students ,” Cappuccio said .
Cappuccio noted the rise in the
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