Calvin Esports is now a club sport – Calvin University Chimes

During the pandemic, then-student Trace Rutman played many video games in quarantine.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t we make this a campus-wide thing?'” Rutman said. So he founded one Sports Student organization hoping to “connect people who [were] trapped in their rooms.”

The student organization still exists and offers students a more relaxed way to participate in esports. But for those who want to compete at a higher level, there’s a brand new option: Calvin Esports, a full-fledged club sport with scheduled training sessions and competitive video game tournaments. The university has invested significant resources in Calvin Esports, which will soon feature a dedicated space for team members to compete.

In November 2022, Jason Faasse began as Calvin University’s first-ever Director of Clubsport, a position that oversees activities such as esports, rugby and ultimate frisbee alike. In this function, Faasse wants to “bring competitive sport closer to the sports department”. That same month, Rutman was hired part-time as Calvin Esports’ head coach. The couple worked hard to build Calvin Esports from the ground up.

Both Faasse and Rutman firmly believe that esports – as the name suggests – really is a sport. “These are the same concepts as in athletics,” said Faasse chimes. “There’s a staying power there: a mental staying power.”

“Of course it’s not nearly as physical as [other] Sports. [But] Each sport requires different skills and like any other sport we have a team. We practice together,” Rutman said. Calvin Esports players train with their teams six hours a week, and most still put in a few hours of their free time. “It takes a lot of communication, a lot of teamwork.”

As of this semester, Calvin Esports has about 15 members and consists of two teams playing two different games: Valorant and League of Legends. It’s their first semester competing as a club sport, Rutman said, and both teams are on a winning streak. Last week, the League of Legends team was 2-0 while the Valorant team was 4-1. The two teams compete each week against schools across the country: last week they played Indiana University and Saint Louis University.

“Calvin Esports is focused on creating a very engaging atmosphere,” Rutman said. He envisions uniforms and travel—all hallmarks of a sports team.

But first, Rutman and Faasse are working to create Calvin’s first space dedicated to eSports, known as the eSports Lab, where team members can meet. At the end of the semester, the lab will have a set location and 6 stations, with an end goal of 16 stations in the lab.

Until then, team members will continue to practice and compete in their own separate rooms.

“The term ‘exercise’ is kind of weird if you’re not going somewhere. When it’s from your own dorm, it’s easy to get distracted,” said freshman Allison Drouillard, who serves as the captain of Calvin Esports’ Valorant team. “If we get that space, that’s going to motivate everyone to really show up and start working. That sense of community will be much stronger.”

Esports’ “accessibility,” Rutman said, is one of its greatest strengths. “Esports is mixed: some of our best players are women. It’s also very welcoming to people with different disabilities who may not be able to participate in a physical sport,” he said.

Drouillard said she feels “welcome” at Calvin Esports even though the team she manages is currently “very male dominated”. “If any girls want to read the paper and join — join, because we need more girls!” she said.

According to Rutman, building an e-sports program at Calvin will give the institution an important recruiting advantage.

“Esports teams are popping up all over the country,” Rutman said. “It’s going to be very important for Calvin, as a smaller liberal arts college, to capture that market.”

“Schools around us have eSports labs,” Faasse said, citing Ferris State University as an example. “Bringing that into the mix here at Calvin will excite kids who want to come here.”

But according to Faasse, the combination of eSports opportunities and the Calvin culture will prove to be the strongest. He noted that Calvin Esports could include a service component in the future, like mentoring a high school esports team.

“I find [students] Come here for the full student experience,” said Faasse. “We can do sports and everything stay Calvin.”