Madison, Wes. (WMTV) – You might think due to Dane Co’s COVID-19 restrictions that sports at Madison College don’t happen, but these athletes have found a sport where social distancing is part of the game.
“It was set to be the next academic year, but with the current situation we have accelerated this schedule knowing it will be a perfect fit,” said Bill Kegler, esports coordinator among others in the sports department at Madison College.
“I didn’t know the regulations physically, and I had an older person, but I’m just there to know what I want to learn but once Eports came out, I just couldn’t get past it,” said Rod Godoff, a member of the Wolfpack Esports team.
Yes, Madison College has esports, but the question is, what is esports?
When I say competitive video games and compare them to other sports, I still get a quick reaction. ”“ People kind of roll their eyes a little. ”
Joe Hanson is the coach of Madison Esports who said, “Esports are competitive video games. They are usually played by a number of governing bodies. There are a number of governing bodies from middle school level all the way to college level and everywhere in between.”
“In terms of participating in the first year, we are playing a little bit because everything happened very quickly. There were a lot of things that Joe and I had to organize and put into place with anything new, so we just sent out the polls,” added Kegler.
And you better believe that these Madison College student athletes are treated the same way as if they were playing another sport at school. The current members have never dreamed of playing sports in college and being student athletes.
Ryan Stroide, another Wolfpack Esports member, said, “No, I actually didn’t think it was possible. I went to Madison College to pursue my IT career, so I didn’t have the sport in mind.”
“No, not really. I always thought it would be good to play a sport outside of the pub championships. I am 27 years old but I thought I would leave it to the young,” Godoff added. He later quipped, “I was just a video game obsessed with my whole life.”
Since the advent of the Atari game console in 1977, people could only dream of playing video games on the college team and in the “real world”
“If they keep their eyes kind of open and kind of realize what is going on in the esports arena, anywhere from the competitive world to the academic world, it really explodes,” Godoff said.
Just like other sports, COVID-19 has taken some fun away for the Madison College Esports team.
“It was a very great experience, especially during these times. It was great to have a team of people to compete with, especially when it is kind of difficult to do it in a private football field with COVID, but now we can do it online using Video games “. Steroid said.
Coach Hanson agrees that “esports will only grow in size in the next few years, especially if the coronavirus continues.”
For now, it’s “Game On” Wolfpack.
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