St. Mary’s embraces the expansion of Esports and gaming tradition throughout campus
Athletics and Recreation
Could 06, 2026
by Charles Perez (M.A. ’25)
As an alternative of gridiron, visualize a digital enviornment. As an alternative of a chalkboard, a widescreen. As an alternative of security tools, a headset and controller.
Each the classroom curriculum and the varsity sports activities choices at St. Mary’s College have entered the realm of gaming whereas retaining a way of group.
After a profitable 2024-2025 season for the St. Mary’s Rattler Esports staff that included an undefeated season by the Rocket League staff, the Name of Obligation staff incomes a third-place end within the ECAC Esports Division, and a cumulative 3.4 GPA for the season, Rattler Esports Director Kaitlin Teniente praises the staff’s progress from the campus-wide help.
“In these early years, the robust group now we have on campus formed the tradition inside the program,” Teniente mentioned. “The College strives for educational and aggressive excellence, and our college students typically meet and exceed these excessive expectations.”
With a stream of latest achievements, it’s no surprise that the highlight continues to shine on Rattler Esports.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication Research, Andrew J. Wilson, Ph.D., is aware of all in regards to the tradition of gaming.
After being gifted Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos by Blizzard Leisure for his tenth birthday, Wilson was hooked. His curiosity in real-time technique video games laid the muse for his curiosity in sport research whereas incomes his Ph.D. on the College of Oregon’s Faculty of Journalism and Communication.
For Wilson, incorporating sport research into communication research is an indication of the instances.
“Gaming is changing into more and more normalized due to the streaming growth and extra widespread illustration on social media,” Wilson mentioned. “Daily, individuals are seeing gaming as a traditional factor that celebrities, athletes and politicians take pleasure in. We’re slowly making progress at altering social understandings of who players are and what video games are all about.”
In Spring 2026, Wilson taught a New Tech in Communication course, specializing in video games, tradition and rising media. This course engaged college students with the technological context of human communication and fostered crucial excited about computer-mediated interplay; cyber id; and points associated to gender, race, class and age.
When analyzing these matters by the lens of sport research, Wilson introduces college students to the broader tradition of gaming, then focuses on matters similar to content material creator tradition, dwell streaming, AI and gaming, labor practices within the sport trade, video games and psychological well being, the globalization of gaming and media illustration.
“I’ve college students play video games for assignments, and there’s all the time a degree,” Wilson mentioned. “We’ll take a look at the narrative structure of a sport like Minecraft, or have them play a sport the place the primary character is a feminine after which ask, ‘What does that illustration do? Is it difficult or feeding into stereotypes?’ I ask college students to play a first-person shooter sport (sometimes a weapon-based sport that’s considered by the eyes of the character) and mirror on the violence they see simulated and ask the way it made them really feel exiting that play expertise.”
Wilson’s message to anybody hesitant to include gaming into their lives is straightforward: “Play extra video games. Invite your folks, your loved ones, your family members and use video games to socialize and construct connections.”
The way forward for gaming at St. Mary’s
Firstly of their sixth aggressive season, Rattler Esports has a powerful roster of 25 varsity student-athletes, composed of devoted groups that compete in opposition to different faculties in 5 video games: Name of Obligation, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League and Valorant.
A few of that staff progress could be linked to the College’s annual esports summer season camps. These camps are co-ed and provide sixth by Twelfth-grade college students of all talent ranges the chance to study sport fundamentals, staff abilities and multimedia coaching.
Not solely are these camps helpful for the scholars attending, however many former campers select to develop into official Rattlers and be part of the Esports staff as undergraduate college students.
“Two of my Rocket League gamers and one in every of my Fortnite pupil–athletes have been recruited from the summer season camps,” Teniente mentioned. “It’s a full circle second for me to have campers return as St. Mary’s college students and assist me run these summer season camps. It reveals that this program has had a really optimistic influence on those that attend.”
Junior Chelsy Tinacba, a Laptop Science main, performs on the Rocket League staff and has fond reminiscences of her time attending an esports summer season camp at St. Mary’s.
“I used to be in a position to meet friends from throughout San Antonio and get first-hand expertise on what it’s prefer to play esports on the collegiate degree,” Tinacba mentioned.
The summer season camp’s construction was a promoting level for Tinacba to attend St. Mary’s as an undergraduate.
“Esports are taken very critically right here,” Tinacba mentioned. “The construction and expectations set by Coach Kaitlin have been an eye-opener. I actually beloved my transition from summer season camp attendee to St. Mary’s pupil as a result of I realized in camp that this program does extra than simply play video video games, and I realized that you’ll all the time have help to get the place you need to be.”
For Teniente, this system’s future is brilliant with potentialities. Her listing of objectives for the subsequent 5 years consists of competing in opposition to bigger universities and increasing pupil employee alternatives that may concentrate on rising their roster.
Teniente explains that as this system positive aspects extra pupil employees, “additionally they deliver very fascinating and revolutionary concepts.”
“Among the finest concepts we’ve carried out have been from pupil employees who say, ‘Hey, coach, how can we do that? How can we do this?’” Teniente mentioned. “Let’s discover out collectively.”
Extra from the Spring 2026 Challenge