Email received from high school teacher and first time esports coach:
"๐๐ฆ๐บ!ย ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ.ย ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด.ย ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ.
๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ดโ ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ โ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆโ ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ.ย ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด.ย ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ."
This month high schools and colleges across the United States will host regional and national championships in esports.
For some participants it will be an opportunity to cooperate in a team setting alongside kids they wouldn't have spoken to otherwise (uniting jocks and nerds and cheerleaders and theatre kids to channel an old Breakfast Club stereotype).
For so many other participants esports will be the FIRST TIME they felt belonging at their school -- A reason to attend, a reason to engage, a reason to care.
Belonging matters throughout your lifespan, from cradle to the grave. Of course, your intelligence, grit, and passion contribute to your health and fulfillment and even to your success at school or work. But just as important -- and maybe even more important -- is your sense that you belong, that you feel at home.
In one national study, first-year college studentsโ numerical rating of agreement with a single statement, โI feel a part of my college,โ proved to be one of the strongest predictors of their enrollment in college two years later. A response to a single item predicted retention years later, and it was even more statistically significant than their accumulated high school records. [Geoffrey Cohen]
Shoutout to all the educators and community leaders leveraging videogames and esports with intention to help their students ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐.