There is a new team making a name for itself in Tampa Bay - it is the Patriot Varsity eSport Team. This year the team competed with High School Esports League in the games Overwatch and Valorant - both are tactical fantasy shooters that require teamwork.
CDS hosted our first eSports event with local schools including Jesuit, Tampa Preparatory, Armwood, Steinbrenner, All Saints Academy, Newsome High School, and East Bay High School. Students and coaches, along with parents, joined the event cheering on the participants. The team has a Twitch channel where they stream games live; check it out to view some past games.
CDS middle schoolers, Aiden S. ('28) achieved Quarterfinalist, and Garrett F. ('26) survived to round 2, while Francisco C.Q. ('22) "BYoSUke" moved up to the Semifinals to represent our Upper School. The top three tournament finalists ended up being Nathan F. ('23) "BoiledOden" (CDS), Malachite "Oathbreaker" (Armwood), and Carmine "Hobbes" (Jesuit). Tough competition ensued, but Carmine from Jesuit came out on top!
In addition, our Overwatch team took on Tampa Preparatory again for the win! We would like to thank every school and participant that came to the event! Without everyone involved, we could not have had such a wonderful turnout and event.
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Esports helps develop valuable teamwork, communication, and critical thinking skills. As our esports offerings grow, CDS is also exploring opportunities to partner with USF, which has a successful esports program and team. Many colleges (including USF) now offer esports programs for students. These universities have varsity esports teams and offer scholarships.
In addition, next year a new elective course will launch for grades 9 and 10: Game Development and Cybersecurity. Students will learn to use Unity to make games. These curricular and co-curricular offerings may open new pathways to college for students.
Thank you to Jason Ault, Scott Sandoval, and Marcus Breitigam for hosting and running the event at CDS. We are very excited at the success our eSports teams have had and can't wait to see the what the future holds.