Cameron Mewhirter (right) with one of Richard Bland College's esports gamers
Are esports gamers athletes? It’s a question that’s been asked almost since the first Space Invaders championship in 1980.
“I think it’s kind of in the middle,” says Annabelle King, who competes on the Richard Bland College esports team. “I see how other people have different opinions.”
At Richard Bland College in Prince George County, however, the answer is clear: The esports team is governed by the athletics department — and in the popular game Marvel Rivals, the Statesmen concluded the spring semester with a 10th place showing in a national 32-team junior college invitational tournament.
Richard Bland is one of more than 200 schools that competes in the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports league.
“We’re starting to see stiffer competition,” says esports coordinator and head coach Cameron Mewhirter. “We were founded in the fall of 2024. After two years, we’re already building a competitive program.”
The esports program at Richard Bland fields teams that compete in many different games, including Marvel Rivals, Fortnite, Mario Kart, Overwatch, Valorant, Tekken 8, Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League. More often than not, students specialize in just one or two games; the Discord server for competitors includes dozens of students.
“Most games that people compete in see very little crossover, unless the game is in the same genre,” Mewhirter says. “For our Marvel Rivals players, a couple of them were also invested in Overwatch, because they’re the same genre. Meanwhile, for people who do Super Smash Bros., they only do Super Smash Bros., because it’s alien to every other game.”
Marvel Rivals and Overwatch are both hero shooters — team-based combat games in which playable characters have specialized abilities and weapons. Players have unique roles on the team, and communication is crucial.
“Preparing for competition really depends on the teammates you’re working with,” King says. “Usually, we run a couple games together, and we talk about what we can improve on as a team.”
Makayla Chapman, a recent Richard Bland graduate and esports team member, locks in.
To prepare his team for the upcoming NJCAAE season, which begins in September, Mewhirter recommends in-game tutorials and drills. “Aim is the most important skill in a shooting game, and there is a separate program called Aimlabs where you can develop that skill,” he says.
“Hand-eye coordination and real-time reaction are the two skills that make gaming more ‘athletic,’” King says. “Cardio and breathing techniques can also improve your gameplay.”
The esports team at Richard Bland is coed. In the past, King — who goes by “Morgue,” a nod to her gamertag “MorgueRatz” — says she has faced sexism in the gaming world. She declined to join her high school team partly for that reason.
“There are quite a few females that play video games, but you have to push past stereotypes. On Discord, I’ve had multiple people tell me my gameplay is bad, even when I have higher stats,” King says. “But at Richard Bland, the experience has been great. There are five or six other females on the esports team for various games, which is a lot of fun.”
But King isn’t particularly worried about labels — unless that label is “winner.” She’s looking forward to graduating with an associate’s degree in behavioral science and continuing her studies at Shenandoah University, which also has an esports team.
“It’s something I love. I grew up playing video games with my dad. I was 7 or 8 years old, playing Call of Duty online with 30-year-olds and kicking their butts,” she says. “They weren’t happy about it, which is exactly what kept pushing me.”
