Glen Oaks Community College esports team garners two national championship wins
The team won two separate competitions playing the video game Call of Duty.
One of Glen Oaks Community College's esports teams consisting of Tyler Parker and Jarrett Miller won the NJCAA open Series Tier 3 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 4v4 Fall 2023 National Final as well as the NJCAAE Fall 2023 Fall Open Series Tier 3 Call of Duty Gunfight National Championship.
According to an article on Glen Oaks Community College's website, advisor to the esports team, Kevin Conner, said of the team’s wins, “These are great victories for our new esports program. I’m proud of our teams who played extremely well. The whole competitive aspect of gaming is still relatively new to all of us, and we have been navigating through the ropes to learn together. Although a number of Glen Oaks teams have played at the national level, I believe actually achieving first place national win is a first for Glen Oaks.”
Both Parker and Miller are extremely dedicated to practicing and becoming better at video games. Parker began playing Call of Duty as an elementary school kid. This was his first year on Glen Oaks Community College’s esports team, initially starting out as a substitute player. He dual-enrolled at Glen Oaks while still in high school and will soon be receiving his associate degree.
“Call of Duty is fun, and the skills from the game are consistent with skills needed on other games. Because competitive esports is so new to us, there were oftentimes during competitions that we were pulling up the rules on a second monitor to be sure we were doing everything right,” said Parker.
Miller is the team captain. He is a business student at Glen Oaks and plans to go to a four-year college in the future to minor in esports. In addition to studying, practicing, and attending classes, Miller also has a full time job.
“I’ve been gaming for 15 years. I treat it like any other sport which means practicing three to four days a week with the team, plus more time on my own — It probably averages out to about 4-5 hours a day, 6 days a week,” said Miller. He added, “If you are not on your game playing and practicing,” said Miller, “someone is working hard to get better than you.”
Conner is hopeful that in the future, more schools will offer these types of opportunities to students. “There is interest in forming a more regional division, rather than just national teams. It’s catching on more and more. Esports offers a nice option to physical sports. There are scholarships and out there for these students who play at any level,” he said.
For more information about Glen Oaks Community College, visit the school’s website.