SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Playing video games is paying off with scholarships for some people. It’s not a fantasy, it’s real and happening in the Miami Valley.
News Center 7′s Xavier Hershovitz investigated the growing e-sports community and how a university in Clark County is offering gamers money to continue their education.
You don’t see Xbox, Playstations, and video games on smart boards in a typical Springfield high school classroom. Springfield’s E-Sports team is not taking up class time, but time after school playing video games.
Marc Sharpnack, Head Coach for Springfield High School E-Sports said, “It wakes me up in the morning.”
Sharpnack is a math teacher turned e-sports head coach. He started the program in 2022 and quickly found success.
Sharpnack showed off the championship trophies the team has won with the most recent being a state championship title they took home in the Fall of 2024.
“Ever since we won states, this fall and got the trophy and the plaque to prove it, a lot of students are really hyped that this is possible for them,” Sharpnack said.
Students Aaron Harris and Adrian Moran are both seniors and proud members of the E-Sports team.
“We all have fun playing with each other, But another thing for me is that I like being competitive,” Harris said.
Harris and Moran both admit spending so much time playing video games was an adjustment for the adults at home.
“The way parents be like, ‘they’re on the game all the time,’ yeah, but taking the opportunity of playing here. She’s like ‘keep on doing it,’” Harris said.
And this opportunity could lead to other opportunities when they graduate this spring.
Ryan Myers-Brown, Director of E-Sports and Wittenberg University said, “It’s very cool to be able to offer scholarships here.”
Myers-Brown showed Hershovitz around their brand-new, state-of-the-art E-Sports arena. The program was started in 2023 and already they offer scholarships for varsity players.
“We have these scholarships, and we have this really cool facility and in doing so, like having these opportunities that we offer, we can bring in students who wouldn’t otherwise consider Wittenberg as a place to get their education,” Myers-Brown said.
It’s helping gaming athletes pay for their education and that alone is huge, but it’s also a growing industry with growing opportunities.
“There are so many new opportunities that are being presented every day for young students who want to work in video games and work in the industry,” Myers-Brown said.
And that’s something each of Sharpnack’s students understand.
“It’s a big opportunity. You know a lot of people, they don’t really think it’s serious or anything crazy, but if you’re good at it and you’re passionate about it, you can go anywhere,” Moran said.
It’s getting parents to understand that takes a little more work.
“A lot of parent misconceptions is they’re just going for fun. When actually there are benefits to this such as scholarships, great opportunities to visit colleges and other opportunities and just go as far, even past college, to make a job,” Sharpnack said.
It’s playing video games now that could pay big in the future.
News Center 7 looked at other Ohio universities and what they offer e-sports athletes. Ohio State University does have an e-sports team, but right now they do not offer scholarships.
The University of Dayton also has an e-sports club, but no scholarships are offered.
However, the University of Akron does offer e-sports scholarships. It was one of the first 50 schools in the country to start an e-sports program.
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