Once a week during the Summer, CSI Athletics will feature an Esports (Electronic Sports) Student Athlete in our newest story series: The Student Athlete Behind the Screen. For week one, we will take a deep dive into the game of Overwatch and take an in-depth look at this week's featured Esports athlete, Elizabeth Garrison, who goes by her IGN or In-Game Name, Lizzie. Lizzie is a junior at CSI who majors in Psychology and minors in Biology. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, she started CSI just before the COVID pandemic hit and thus wasn't able to get much of a college experience to begin with, until she found CSI Esports.
 
For those that do not know the game of Overwatch, it is a team-based 6v6 first-person shooter (FPS) game where the characters they play, called heroes, each have their own special abilities to utilize during the game. Overwatch is played in a first team to win 3 rounds format where one team starts on offense and the other on defense alternating each round. Teams must work together to complete or prevent the opponent from completing specific objectives within a limited period-of-time faster with the end goal to be the team that wins the most rounds at the end of the game. Lizzie described the game as "high-skilled" and "fast-paced" continuing to say, "I think of it like chess, you have to outthink the enemy in certain ways."
 
Lizzie, along with her teammates competed in the game of Overwatch during our inaugural Esports season in 2020-21 that saw them compete in the East Coast Conference (ECC) and the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).  Overall, the team finished with a combined, 10-8 record, making the playoffs in both conferences but ultimately losing in the playoffs. Despite the losses, Lizzie stated "…because of the Esports team, it really helped me get real friendships, I still talk to them every day, especially my teammates, we all hangout, not just online but in real life too". For us and Lizzie that alone is a successful year in our book.   

Lizzie's role on the team is a "flex-healer" which means she is a part of the support class of heroes. Her role is an important one because she has the ability to help her teammates during the game by giving them extra life or powering up their abilities. In traditional sports, a similar role would be a point guard in basketball or a setter in volleyball. Much like other athletes in traditional sports, Lizzie and her teammates practice at least two-three times a day to prepare for each match, they even had their captains watch video history of their next opponent to highlight key notes, and assess their gameplay to gain an edge.  
 
When asked if Esports should be considered a sport, Lizzie stated she can see both sides and has had numerous conversations on the topic. She recalled a time when she was in ballet as a kid and remembers how physically demanding and competitive it was for something many people do not consider a sport to this day. Lizzie feels the same about Esports, stating "…although it may be considered "lazy", at the end of the day we are trying to think outside the box…traditional sports is more of a ridged complex while Esports is more of a creative outlook on sports in general". When baseball, basketball, football and others where first created, they were all considered creative, imaginative and grew from there; the same can be said for Esports. Still only relatively under 30 years old and according to a plethora of tech, business and money companies (Like Forbes), as of 2021, Esports as a whole is second in viewership in the United States with over 80 million viewers. In first is American Football (NFL) with over 140 million viewers.
 
Despite its growing popularity, many people today still would not consider a gamer as an athlete. When asked what she considers herself to be, she said, "I consider myself more of a gamer…mostly because of the stigmatism of Esports as athletes". This stigmatism and many others has followed gamers since its birth; however, an athlete is defined as, a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports or games requiring, physical strength, agility and stamina. Take away the physical strength portion and any professional or collegiate gamer should be considered an athlete as well.
 
To us, Lizzie is a student athlete, a gamer, a Dolphin and so much more along with her teammates who are excited to give it another run this coming season in the fall. Gaming aside, Lizzie also loves arts and crafts and aspires to be a tutor at CSI along with earning her degrees, while continuing building those friendships and be an even better team next year. There is no doubt she will become successful in any future endeavor.  I want to thank Lizzie for taking the time to be interviewed for this exclusive Esports story series.
 
Week two will feature the game of NBA 2k21 and ECAC undefeated NBA 2k21 (Xbox) Spring 2021 Champion, Shabarii Noiis. Be sure to check it out!