eSports competition formed for deaf high school students and deaf adults
THE DAILY MOTH:
Warren Keller, the Athletic Director at California School for the Deaf, Fremont, started an online eSports tournament for deaf high school student-athletes and students who saw their schools and sports schedules suspended because of coronavirus. I was able to do an interview with him.
WARREN KELLER:
The novel coronavirus is having a big impact on deaf student athletes. I’m sure all, or almost all, schools for the deaf have closed their facilities until fall. CSD-Fremont was supposed to host the Hoy Classic Baseball and Softball Tournament, which invites exclusively Schools for the Deaf, and that has been cancelled. Also, Texas School for the Deaf was supposed to host the Berg/Seeger Track & Field Classic and that’s been cancelled.
Gallaudet University has suspended their athletic activities until this fall, you know, and I’m sure there are plenty more other colleges doing the same thing. So, it’s really had an impact on all of us just like it has been on the hearing world. However, we know that deaf athletics play a major part in our community because it brings people together. It allows us to gather together, socialize and network. So, it’s been truly heartbreaking to see this situation unfold.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Keller set up an Instagram account and website called “DeafESPN,” short for Deaf Electronic Sports Performance Network. The first tournament was Madden 20 and Keller organized tournaments for PS4 and XBOX users.
KELLER:
Deaf ESPN started one month ago with Madden 20, a popular football video game. I typed an email to the athletic directors including videos that they shared with their students. These students later emailed me to register their PS4 or Xbox user ID. We used a bracket system that we used to compete for a championship throughout 2 days. We had 2 separate tournaments for gamers who used PS4 and those with Xbox. It went well considering we had 32 student participants from 10 different Schools for the Deaf. We had our championship game livestreamed on Instagram which was really fun!
We made improvements with our second tournament with more structure and information we had. We implemented Google Forms which made it easier for people to sign up to participate in our eGames through our website. Our Mario Kart division has exploded to 64 student participants from 21 different schools. During that time, I noticed that adults and college students have been sending me emails asking to set up their own tournaments and I was happy to help. Anthony Palmer from Rochester helped me set up an Adults-only tournament. It went great and we’ve already set up our third tournament this Friday. The signup deadline for FIFA 20 Soccer for age 13 through 19 for DeafESPN. Those over the age of 20 would participate in Deaf ESPN Pro reserved for only aAdults.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Keller hopes to bring in international contestants.
I play FIFA 20 on PS4 and I will be signing up for that tournament!
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Here is an interesting story from Keller on eSports.
KELLER:
One year ago, we had our biennial National Deaf Athletics Association (NDIAA) conference.
Athletic directors from 35 schools for the deaf flew to Boston, Massachusetts at the Marie-Philip School for the Deaf. At the conference, there were presentations, workshops, networking sessions, trainings along with a long list of other opportunities. During one of the presentations, provided by Mike Weinstock who is a former Gallaudet University athletic director and is now retired. He gave a presentation sharing his experiences and his predictions for the future ahead. He mentioned that we should anticipate a rise in popularity of eSports especially now that it’s exploded in the hearing world. Ironically, he was the one who founded the Clerc Classic tournament. Though there were some agreement among deaf administrators with this idea, there was some resistance and interest in further discussion. We know that our Schools for the Deaf value our national tournaments, even more so than some hearing people, because we’re always flying out to tournaments each season. We thought we’d wait and see though we do have mixed feelings. I kept in mind that we still have a league currently operating in CSD-Fremont without issues, it seems like. This outbreak has had an impact on deaf students who are already deprived from language. These students are forced to go back home and are cut off from their connections. This is really the right place and the right time to set this up now.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you Keller for your time and for your leadership in keeping our deaf high school students competitive and connected during this time of social distancing.
DeafESPN: https://sites.google.com/csdeagles.net/despn/home?authuser=0