Upstate New York College's E-Sports Team Wins Major Championship

A college about an hour away from the Hudson Valley is taking home national titles.

The Hudson Valley Community College's E-sports team is officially a national championship winner. Hudson Valley Community College's ESports program is called Vikings ESports. Some of the games include Fortnite, FIFA, Madden, Overwatch, Super Smash, according to their website. People are able to participate in solo-play or team-play. According to a press release, the Hudson Valley Vikings had a winning team in the NJCAAe National Championship for Call of Duty - Warzone. This is the E-sports program's first national title.

According to the press release, Elijah Harris and Ryan Closson beat Northeastern Technical College 3-1 in the best-of-three championship. Harris was also named the most valuable gamer on the team. They were under the leadership of head coach Bob Stranahan. Stranahan coaches the entire 19 student-athlete team. They competed on seven teams for the spring 2021 season and there are two individual competitors as well.

Coach Stranahan was the first-ever E-Sports coach hired at Hudson Valley Community College. He was hired in September 2020. Stranahan was previously a teacher at a nearby high school, where he also coached ESports for over a year.

Stranahan says that ESports provides important skills like teamwork and critical thinking, as reported by My Twin Tiers. Millions of dollars are offered to ESports athletes annually. The top professional players and teams have made hundreds of thousands from winning tournaments, according to Forbes. PVDDR, a gamer in Brazil, has made $300,000 this year from playing Magic: The Gathering Arena.