Given current restrictions around collegiate sports, many people have been missing them. While some professional leagues have started to play again, the same cannot be said for many college teams. Sports at SNHU have been almost completely shut down with the closing of campus this fall term leaving only one student sport still playing, SNHU Esports.
SNHU Esports offers a large variety of events to watch, with six different teams represented. These teams play Fortnite, Overwatch, Valorant, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros and Hearthstone. SNHU Esports even streams their competition to ensure their supporters are able to watch from home.
The East Coast Conference (ECC), will be playing one game a week up until November 13. Starting during the last week of September, they began playing two games a week of either Valorant or Overwatch leagues for the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). This will continue until the end of the semester.
The game Overwatch is a team-based, first-person shooter set up where characters are able to face off in teams of six. They use their unique abilities on a wide variety of maps over points of control or to push payload forward. The payload is a truck that reaches different checkpoints. When defenders are near the truck, it moves backward and moves forward when the attackers are near it.
As for the game Valorant, it is a first-person tactical shooter set up made by Riot Games where two teams of five face off on different maps with unique characters and abilities while purchasing weapons with in-game money.
“The characters I’m playing [in Overwatch] are very meta [“popular among professionals”] right now, so I am getting a lot of use. It’s definitely a bit nerve-wracking, but I think I’m confident enough in my abilities,” said Sophomore Varsity Support, Dominic Rizzo ’23, when asked about the upcoming season. Despite a rough first game, however, the Overwatch team is ready to continue the season.
Each season there is room for adjustment when players graduate and spots to play open up. “Last year’s MVP left me some pretty big shoes to fill. As of right now, I am currently [substitute] for the tank line up. I know I have a lot to improve on for this upcoming season, and I hope that later on down the line I can be on equal footing with the other tanks,” said Anthony Darrigo, ’23 Sophomore Varsity Tank for Overwatch.
Fans of Overwatch can tune in to Twitch.tv/snhuesports every Friday at 7 p.m., or can watch the Valorant team play on Wednesdays and Tuesdays also at 7 p.m.
