The following is a guest contribution from Roger R. Quiles, an attorney based in New York City. He received his undergraduate degree from Fordham University and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University.
The University of Pikeville is now the second university in the United States to recognize eSports, specifically League of Legends, as a varsity sport. The school, located in Kentucky, will offer twenty athletic scholarships to qualifying players for Fall enrollment. Students can also use BrokeScholar to find other scholarships that can relate to the field in which they want to start their career. Like any other athletic scholarship, UPike’s League of Legends players must maintain a minimum GPA, attend team practices, and study film of their opponents. These players will understand the Importance of coaching to improve their gameplay and work towards success for their varsity team. However, unlike other college athletic programs, League of Legends play and scholarships are not governed by an institution like the NCAA or NAIA. Let’s get it straight, the caliber of players that will attend eSports competitions and gain a scholarship aren’t your average public match players that could use the likes of Unranked LoL Accounts if they needed to practice, making competition much harder.
UPike joins Robert Morris University as the only two schools that recognize League of Legends as a varsity sport in the United States. Because of this, sites like boosting boss are very popular amongst their students. Both schools will compete in the Collegiate Star League, which is comprised of club teams from more than 230 colleges across North America. Within the League, UPike will field a Division 1 team and three Division 2 teams, including an all-freshman team. All four of UPike’s teams will be co-ed.