Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The world of video gaming is ever evolving - just ask the varsity Esports student athletes at Cleary University in Genoa Township.

Esports are video games played in an organized, competitive environment. It’s said to be a rapidly growing sport among high school and college students across the country, and Cleary is one of the few universities in eastern Michigan that offers such a program.

Cleary is hosting its first Rocket League Open Tournament this Saturday at the university’s Esports arena, located inside of Cleary Commons. Esports is varsity athletic program at Cleary - with multi-player video games played in a competitive, online environment in a state-of-the-art Esports arena – complete with logos and decals. The roughly 1,800-square-foot space houses 24 PC’s and gaming stations, chairs, mouse-pads and broadcast equipment.

Head Esports Coach Jarod Ericksen was hired in early 2021 to launch the new program and competitions started last fall. He tells WHMI it’s a billion-dollar industry that has been around in other countries but just really started growing in popularity in the states over the last ten years.

Ericksen says Michigan is a great state and really cool in the sense that it has one of the highest concentrations of varsity programs in the country, with over 20 colleges. He says it will only continue to grow, with more jobs and opportunities within the Esports field.

With their new incoming class, Ericksen says they’ll have roughly 30 student athletes in the Esports program among all the titles they compete in and there are also various scholarships opportunities. Students range in age from 18 to their mid-20’s and come from all over the country.

Ericksen said just as traditional sports team would go out and try to find players, they do the same but for all the different video games. He says there are eight different titles they participate in and each one is their own individual “sport” in a sense, which fall under the Esports umbrella.

Teams play a variety of games with different genres. Ericksen says all competitions are played online and matches are played directly from the Clearly Esports arena, so students have a sense of camaraderie and it feels like a team. Live, in-person, playoff tournaments are also held; with one coming to Cleary in the fall.

Saturday’s event is free to attend and spectators are encouraged to view the broadcasted matches in the commons area during the competition. Registration details and more information about the program is available in the attached press release.