BMCC Athletics Department Joins NJCAAE Competitive Esports Program

BMCC esports
Image designed by Sports Information Director John Kelly Jr.

March 3, 2021

The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) Athletics Department has joined the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE) competitive video gaming association.

More than 30 BMCC students have been competing against students from over 70 community colleges across the country during the inaugural Spring 2021 season. In the weeks since the regular season began on February 1, the BMCC Panther teams have been on a winning streak.

“Our teams have gotten off to a hot start,” said Dakota Olson, Coordinator of Athletics at BMCC. “We’re currently undefeated in the team games Valorant, CoD: Cold War, CoD: Warzone, and several of our individual gamers have been doing well too.”

Joining the NJCAAE program made perfect sense to Olson. After the Covid-19 pandemic forced the college to pause its athletics operations, students were unable to compete in traditional sports.  Olson, along with leaders from the Office of Student Affairs, still wanted to provide students with an opportunity to join a team and represent BMCC in a competitive setting.

“We had to start thinking outside the box,” said Olson.  “The NJCAAE provided us with a perfect opportunity to continue intercollegiate competition.”

Olson said a fundamental component of the BMCC Athletics Department mission is to engage students and get them involved in the college community beyond just attending class.  When they discovered a lot of students were already playing in the gaming titles offered by the NJCAAE, it made perfect sense to launch the program at BMCC.

“Esports gives our students the chance to build their teamwork, and leadership skills,” said Olson. “And since the college is operating mainly virtually at this time, it’s also giving these students the social aspect of college that has not been widely available.”

He said the Athletics department is holding the Esports student-athletes to the same standards expected of more traditional athletes while ensuring students that need academic support are attending tutoring sessions in the Learning Resource Center or taking advantage of other academic support services available at BMCC.

Student Captains of Esports team say competition has been rewarding

Computer Technology Network major Aisha Ellis, who grew up in Jamaica Queens is captain of the Warzone and Coldwar teams.  Ellis began gaming at a young age.

“My mom constantly tells me about how one summer day, my dad was blown away because I was actually sitting down and playing games,” said Ellis. “I could beat the original Contra {a game developed in 1987} in an hour or less before I went to preschool so yes,  I’ve been playing games for essentially my entire life.”

Ellis says that being a team captain for video games isn’t all that different than being a team captain for anything else.

“You do what you do best and make sure your team is kept up to speed with everything,” said Elllis. “The most interesting and exciting aspects of competing so far are being able to test how good you are at the game, both as an individual and team player. I honestly was going way outside my comfort zone when I signed up. We get along really well as teammates and practice is never really a chore. Things are fun and I feel as if I’ve made some friends.”

BMCC team captain for the game Overwatch is Animation and Motion Graphics major Nathalie Morales, who has been gaming since she was around four years old.  Morales, now 27 and the mother of two young children, grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. She says it has been exciting to compete in something she loves to do.

As team captain for the BMCC Panthers Overwatch team, she is required to report match scores, make sure the team follows the rules of Esports, coordinates matches with the opposing team, organizes practices, and  provides Olson with updates on the team. She said the experience has been exciting.

“Meeting new people and competing with players across the country helps me not only improve my gaming skills but also my social skills,” said Morales, who plans to graduate BMCC in Fall 2021, then pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science and land a job as an animator or game programmer.

Panthers Overwatch team co-captain Marcial Garcia is a Science Engineering major who grew up in New York City and plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering.

Like Morales, Garcia has been gaming since childhood, playing games such as Pokemon and Golden Sun. He says some of the more exciting aspects of the team’s competition include figuring out the timing for when a team should advance, and anticipating an opponent’s next move.

Garcia says distance learning has proven challenging, but he still managed to earn an A in many of his classes including difficult ones such as Calculus 3.  He says being part of the new BMCC program has been rewarding.

“As a team, we challenge each other to improvise, overcome, and develop new ideas in the middle of a match while being able to acclimate to these challenges even if we make minor mistakes,” said Garcia.

Students interested in joining the program in Fall 2021 should click here for more information.

  • BMCC Panther Esports teams compete against over 70 community colleges across the country
  • More than 30 BMCC students participate during inaugural Spring 2021 season
  • Several BMCC gaming teams remain undefeated through three weeks of the regular season

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