Name: _____________________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: _______
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK #10
College recognizes video games as
varsity sport
By Jayson Keyser
Saturday, October 09, 2014
As a teenager, in his bedroom illuminated by the glow of his laptop, Youngbin Chung became addicted
to video games. Ten-hours-a-day addicted.
His grades tanked. His parents fretted.
A few years later, the 20-year-old from the San Francisco area leads a team of headset-wearing players
into virtual battle in a darkened room at a small private university in Chicago. He's studying computer
networking on a nearly $15,000-a-year athletic scholarship — for playing League of Legends. It's the
very game that once jeopardized his high school diploma.
"I never thought in my life I'm going to get a scholarship playing a game," said Chung, one of 35
students attending Robert Morris University on the school's first-in-America video game scholarship.
Once regarded as anti-social slackers or nerds, gamers have become stars in what are now called
esports. In professional leagues, they compete for millions of dollars in prizes and some pull in sixfigure incomes. They pack thousands into sports stadiums around the world.
Games have evolved from the days of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong into something much more complex.
They involve multiple players that communicate with each other in teams, plot strategy, predict
opponents' moves and react in milliseconds.
Robert Morris, which has about 3,000 students, believes those are not so different from the skills one
uses on a football field or a basketball court. Spending money to recruit these students, too, will enrich
campus life and add to its ranks of high-achieving graduates.
"It's coming. It's coming big time," Associate Athletic Director Kurt Melcher said of the esports trend
and what he's sure is its looming recognition by a bigger chunk of the collegiate sports world.
Hundreds of other colleges and universities have esports clubs, but Robert Morris are for a single
video game, League of Legends. Teams of five on five use keyboards and mouses to control mythical
fighters battling it out in a science fiction-like setting.
The first practices started last month in a $100,000 classroom outfitted with an expansive video
screen, computers and eye-dazzling gaming paraphernalia.
CCSS: RI.10. 5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular
sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).
Name: _____________________________________________ Date: _____________ Period: _______
The Robert Morris Eagles will play teams in two leagues that include Harvard and MIT, with hopes of
making it to the League of Legends North American Collegiate Championship. Members of the firstplace team take home $30,000 each in scholarships.
Melcher dreamed up the scholarship idea while searching online for the video games he used to play.
The university already has scholarships for everything from bowling to dressing as the mascot.
Some 27 million people play League of Legends each day, according to developer Riot Games Inc.
This year's professional championship is Oct. 19 in Seoul at the stadium South Korea built to host the
2002 soccer World Cup. The 45,000 seats are expected to sell out. The top team will take home $1
million.
The traditional sports world is still trying to figure out what to make of the phenomenon.
ESPN has dabbled in esports coverage, but network President John Skipper recently declared it a nonsport.
"It's not a sport," he said. "It's a competition, right? I mean, chess is a competition, and checkers is a
competition. ... I'm mostly interested in doing real sports."
Still, he added, "You can't really ignore it."
Article Source http://tweentribune.com/teen/college-recognizes-video-games-varsity-sport
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK #10 QUESTIONS:
DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. Remember the
guidelines for responses and grade samples discussed in class. The Article of the Week is due EVERY
TUESDAY!
Summarize the content of the article. What advantage does Robert Morris
University gain over other schools by making video games a varsity sport?
Relate the article to you! How could this phenomenon change the way Americans
view sports? Do you agree or disagree with this decision to make this a varsity sport?
Why or why not?
CCSS: RI.10. 5. Analyze in detail how an author’s ideas or claims are developed and refined by particular
sentences, paragraphs, or larger portions of a text (e.g., a section or chapter).