TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (January 4, 2021) - The world of intercollegiate athletics is always changing and adapting, even to the points of new sports joining the fold.

While the NJCAA has seen a number of Olympic sports join the fold in the recent years, a national rise in video-game play has led to a growing movement within colleges and universities to have varsity 'eSports' programs available for sports to compete with. Seeing the rise in interest on campus, the Salt Lake Community College Athletic Department has taken the step of adding eSports to the growing stable of sanctioned sports within the department. The new sanctioned sport will begin competition in the spring.

Kevin Dustin, SLCC's Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreation, said adding eSports to the institution's sanctioned sports made sense based on the growing national interest and infrastructure behind the activity.

"We are excited to add eSports to our existing line-up of championship sports," he said. "We think SLCC can field highly competitive teams that will represent the college well.  We are looking forward to meeting the needs of our existing student body as well as recruiting highly talented men and women to compete in eSports."

SLCC will begin competition in 'Super Smash Brothers' in the spring, allowing them to compete against other NJCAA and Scenic West Athletic Conference institutions who are competing in eSports. The school will expand competition to include 'League of Legends' and 'Rocket League'. 

Josh Barney, who will serve as the program's head coach, said the institution is using the sport to help students gain competitive opportunities while expanding career skills.

"One of the primary focuses of what we are building is not necessarily the playing of the games themselves, but the peripheral activities associated to the games and the careers that can be found in support of the competitions," he said. "Event production, stream production, 'shoutcasting', in-stream content creation and more will be ways that students can get involved in the activities even if they aren't competing."

Diversity will be a focus of the program as it develops, said Barney.

"If you are interested in getting involved, there will be a way for you to do that with all diverse interests," he said.