BY JESSALYN KIRCHHOFF
GRAPHIC BY HANNAH KITZMANN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the 17 NCAA athletic, competitive sports offered at Fort Hays State University, there is plenty of competition on campus. But beyond the athletic contests, yet another competitive club emerges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FHSU Esports Club is a competitive gaming club at Fort Hays State University that offers the opportunity for students to compete at a collegiate level in competitive games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trevor Haley, FHSU Esports Club secretary, expands on the club\u2019s mission statement from their Tigerlink page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe purpose of the organization is to provide a safe haven for people who enjoy playing video games,\u201d Haley said. \u201cIf they desire, there is an opportunity to play at a competitive level, but it is not required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley goes on to state that there are no skill requirements to join the club or to play competitively and that skill tends to come from experience. The only club requirement is a five-dollar membership fee which the club began collecting this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe tend to recruit through campus-sponsored events such as orientation, senior days, and other on-campus activities,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are currently sponsored by McDonald’s and are reaching out to attain other sponsorships to fund the club and its members, as well as working to revive our scholarship programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley says the club offers a reprieve from the challenges students face on a day-to-day basis in their school and work lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTruthfully, we all need a break from the world on occasion,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe our club benefits our members by being stress-relieving and giving them that free space.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley also wants to clarify that Esports isn\u2019t just purely competitive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe offer the opportunity for students to compete, but we also have many members who simply play games and have fun, which is what our club is all about,\u201d Haley said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to playing for fun, the Esports Club also sponsors community events and Haley mentions yet another benefit of being a club member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have multiple events open to the public as well as a gaming lab where members can go and get away from the bustle of classes,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley then recounts one of these events, the club\u2019s charity stream, as his best Esports memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhether it was fundraising for the ice-bucket challenge at 1:00 in the morning, or all of us sleeping under desks and on chairs, we all had a blast and loved every minute,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haley describes the community of the Esports club and how and campus involvement in the club is beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStepping out of your comfort zone leads to opportunities to meet new people, connect with your interests, and understand more of who you are,\u201d he said. \u201cI struggled with my identity and my place in the world when I entered college. However, I noticed that the more involved I was, the more at home I felt, and the more reason to stay the course and finish what I started (my degree). This is what I hope every student strives for, not simply to begin something, but to complete it too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FHSU Esports Club will be hosting a Minecraft Building Competition starting in April and going for an entire month in survival mode on a new club server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information about the Minecraft Competition, you can reach out to the Esports Club via their email at fhsu.esports@gmail.com<\/a>. For further general information on the club, you can check out their Tigerlink at https:\/\/tigerlink.fhsu.edu\/organization\/esportsclub<\/a> or keep up with their events on their Facebook page at https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/FHSU.Esports\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY JESSALYN KIRCHHOFFGRAPHIC BY HANNAH KITZMANN Among the 17 NCAA athletic, competitive sports offered at Fort Hays State University, there is plenty of competition on… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":72479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3398,11],"tags":[14936,14861,14896,13925,14843],"class_list":["post-72478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","category-news","tag-fhsu-student-org-feature","tag-fhsu-student-organization-feature","tag-hannah-kitzmann","tag-jessalyn-kirchhoff","tag-student-organization-feature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/FHSU-Esports.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72480,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72478\/revisions\/72480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}