Future of sports?

Last week, I pondered the concerning fact that fewer athletes are going out for high school sports. There are several potential reasons for this lack of participation. Advancement in technology is one that may contribute to the problem, but at the same time, it may also present another venue in which kids can compete.

What I’m talking about is the emergence, and growing popularity, of eSports.

I’ll admit that I am a little old-school when it comes to sports, so my initial reaction to eSports as a high school program is one of skepticism.

My opposition comes from several different angles. First of all, there is so much evidence out there which claims that too much screen time is detrimental to young people.

In a 2023 article by the National Library of Medicine, the authors noted that excessive screen time for young kids can negatively impact cognitive, linguistic and social-emotional growth. In addition, the more time a kid is planted in front of a screen, the less physical activity they are getting. Creativity is diminished and living in a virtual world also affects a person’s ability to function in a face-to-face society.

When it comes to gaming in particular, the NLM found that it is associated with lower levels of emotional understanding in boys (not girls), and that gaming has been connected with more severe depression, higher levels of anxiety, inadequate sleep, dopamine release that
has been associated with attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder-related behavior, a decrease in social coping skills, and the development of craving behaviors that resemble substance abuse.

Aside from research-based evidence, I have always been a firm believer that participating in sports teaches kids life lessons including the importance of teamwork, of dealing with defeat, of overcoming adversity and just the overall understanding of what it means to be a functioning and productive member of society.

I questioned whether those ends could be achieved by playing eSports.

So, I had a conversation with my son Cooper about this subject. He was a three-sport athlete all through middle school and high school and, as an adult, is a gamer. Given he has experienced both, I wanted to get some insight from him and he actually made me see another side to the potential of eSports.

In competitive gaming, participants are often not playing as solitary players. They actually do have to work together as a team
to accomplish their goals. They have to devise strategy, they are often put into situations that require quick thinking and problem solving, though they don’t see each other face to face, they do talk to each other, and being proficient at manipulating a controller is no easy task.
I know I can’t begin to make an XBox controller work.

After my talk with Cooper, it seems that lack of physical activity is about the only thing that eSports aficionados can’t get that playing traditional sports would provide them.

Another positive is that eSports may
provide an opportunity to compete in sports to those who may not be physically or athletically inclined, which might impair their ability to
be a contributing member to a traditional sports team.

So, in a nutshell, I guess I might be able to be convinced that there’s a place for eSports in the future of high school programs — but I know that I will always prefer to watch the traditional sports.