BRYAN, Texas — Esports is coming to the Blinn College District this fall. Someone that may be the most excited for the program to start is the newly announced coach, Aaron Kapiko.
“We’re accepting from perspective students, students that are already at the college and are interested in playing," said Kapiko. "We are getting ready to work.”
Kapiko used to play competitively in college and professionally, where he was able to travel the world and even ranked in the top 25 for the game, Hearthstone. He said his time being part of an esports team in college gave him an outlet outside of school
"I am a really competitive person in general so getting to go compete and be part of something competitive was something I enjoyed," Kapiko said.
Kapiko said players can also develop critical thinking skills in certain games, prompting ways to think outside of the box, as well as working together as a team.
"It is a mixed bag, it is like any other sport where you have some players who are great team players and some players who play a little bit more selfishly," Kapiko said. "We have to learn to work in a team environment better.”
Blinn College will compete in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) against two-year college and four-year universities. Blinn is one of the few community colleges in the region offering varsity-level esports scholarships
“We have the opportunity to compete against big division one schools, like Texas A&M, Ohio State and other big name schools," Kapiko said.
Blinn College will have two teams come fall, one at the Brenham campus and the other at the Bryan campus.