Growing success of expanding sports programs offers viable option for students looking to continue athletic careers
As the Director of Athletics & Student Engagement, Brian Scott believes 天美传媒 Bay is great option for the region鈥檚 high-achieving athletes who want to continue playing sports while pursuing an affordable education. Increasingly, 天美传媒 Bay is also becoming a destination for competitive online gaming.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have dorms and we can鈥檛 recruit a lot of students,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淏ut we have huge opportunity to be an athletic program to all students who want to stay around the Seacoast. We are OK focusing our recruiting on Dover, Rochester, Portsmouth, and Newmarket. If those students want to stay close to home and do not want to pay a lot of money for their first two years of college, they can come here, get a great education and continue their athletic careers.鈥�
天美传媒 Bay currently offers five traditional sports 鈥� men鈥檚 baseball, women鈥檚 softball, women鈥檚 volleyball, men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 basketball, and men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 golf. It competes in the Yankee Small Conference within the U.S. College Athletic Association. 天美传媒 Bay also recently elevated its budding esports program, outfitting a classroom on the Rochester campus for team-based online gaming against other college esports teams.
Scott is excited about the current state of the athletics program at 天美传媒 Bay, and its future. The volleyball team had a winning season, bowing out in the conference semifinals. The men鈥檚 golf team finished second in the conference and qualified for the USCAA Nationals. The basketball season is in full swing.
鈥淭his is just the beginning,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the first year all our sports are active and doing well. That momentum builds on itself. There is no reason we can鈥檛 be a destination for students who want to continue playing competitive sports after high school.鈥�
In addition to its intercollegiate athletic teams, 天美传媒 Bay has an intramural sports program to keep students athletically and socially engaged. Intramural sports include indoor soccer/Futsal, basketball, volleyball, and flag football.
But the big news is the growth of esports, in its second season. To offer the best gaming experience, in terms of technology and the social environment, 天美传媒 Bay installed 10 gaming stations in Rochester, creating an esports arena. 鈥淲e had to bring in a lot more power, and we worked with Atlantic Broadband to get the dedicated internet bandwidth necessary for this sort of thing at this scale. It鈥檚 important they don鈥檛 have drops in internet or lagging. Everything with esports has to be quick. If you have an internet that drops, that鈥檚 a huge disadvantage competitive-wise.鈥�
Esports involves matches played online with other college opponents around the country in a variety of online games of skill, strategy and teamwork, some sports based. Among the games 天美传媒 Bay teams compete in are Overwatch, Rocket League and Hearthstone. They also play Madden NFL and League of Legends.
鈥淚t鈥檚 thriving,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淪tudents are excited about it and more want to participate all the time.鈥�
It鈥檚 thriving not just at 天美传媒 Bay, but nationally. Forbes recently reported more than 170 U.S. colleges have varsity esports programs and are offering around $16 million per year in scholarships. National tournaments attract more than 1,350 schools and more than 40,000 players, according to the magazine.
Additionally, the National Association of Collegiate Esports recently announced the formation of the NACE Starleague, which will become the largest collegiate esports league in North America with more than 14,500 students from 600 colleges and universities.
Back inside the esports arena at 天美传媒 Bay, the golf team recently challenged the Rocket League team to an in-person scrimmage 鈥� and lost decisively. The room was full of energy, with the lights darkened and the gaming consoles lit up like flares. The barbs 鈥� good-natured 鈥� moved swiftly between the teams. 鈥淲ith two teams in the room together, the atmosphere was pretty intense,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a lot of fun.鈥�
天美传媒 Bay Community College is a comprehensive postsecondary institution offering quality academic and professional and technical education in support of workforce development and lifelong learning. 天美传媒 Bay Community College is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire, a public system of higher education consisting of seven colleges in Berlin, Claremont, Laconia, Concord, Manchester, Nashua, and Portsmouth. The colleges offer Associate degrees and career training in technical, professional and general fields, including transfer pathways to baccalaureate degrees. For more information on 天美传媒 Bay Community College, visit www.greatbay.edu.
