BY ZACH EDGAR
In 2024, St. Louis Community College gained an Esports team. The STLCC South County campus has a standalone space for Esports that has seen consistent growth over the past few years. This room is dedicated to every need of a growing community such as Esports. With a room so well equipped and staffed for propagating success, how do those involved feel about their slice of paradise and what it does for competition?
“It does very well bringing both a feeling of homeyness and wanting to be here, designed to be here and assisting in competitiveness,” said Robert Cruz, Esports Coordinator.
With this, the community surrounding Esports at STLCC has grown immensely. So much so Cruz has had to find ways to make the room work for the 20 members to have scrimmages and practice together at varying times, just to make sure there wasn’t any overlap.
“As we’ve grown larger, we’ve had to find ways to ensure everyone has access to the space, as needed for both game days and practices without being overencumbered with too many people on the PC’s,” said Cruz.
But it doesn’t stop, they are always looking for the next National Champion like Justin “Dknock” Smith or Benjamin “Rhewn” Barmak. With updates making it a challenge to play certain titles or players leaving after graduating, there is always a search happening for talent. One option Cruz uses for recruitment is through communications on Discord.
“We have 400 almost 450 students, previous and current, that are in our discord. And the word of mouth propagation from there, especially when you publish the announcement to all kinds of stuff, is immeasurable,” said Cruz.
Kaylin Kim has been a member of STLCC Esports for the past few years, both as a player and a coach. Her experience and skill in high school esports prepared her for joining this community and has allowed her to continue competing for Maryville University.
“I’ve had a lot of fun, in the very beginning there were a lot of committed players so it was a lot more fun to interact and build a community around,” said Kim.
Not everyone who plays video games does so with the thought of competing for titles but are still very competitive, there are competitors out there that could make their mark at this level if they chose to.
“There are more National Champions probably sitting on these campuses that are unknown then there are probably out in the field currently,” said Cruz.
