VPA Prepares for ‘New Frontiers’

By James Biggam
STAFF WRITER
MONTPELIER, Vt — Introducing E-Sports into high school athletics could soon be more than just a virtual reality in the Green Mountain State.

The Vermont Principals’ Association is launching a committee to explore the possibility of including video game competitions as organized events for varsity participants. Many schools currently offer the activity at a club level and there’s a chance it could follow in the path of bass fishing and Ultimate as Vermont’s newest sanctioned sport.

VPA Executive Director Jay Nichols and Assistant Executive Director Lauren Thomas discussed E-Sports along with many other recent changes and upcoming initiatives during Media Day on Wednesday. The pair released an updated list of new athletic directors and reviewed the latest alignment changes for the four divisions of schools.

Most championship dates are set in stone for the fall season, though some of the venues are still up in the air. The increased need for officials is also a major point of emphasis as schools attempt to promote positive fan behavior.

Here are three takeaways from the annual VPA Media Day:

Esports on the horizon?

Nichols and Thomas noted there are a lot of valuable attributes gained from participating in Esports, citing collaboration with teammates and problem-solving. Other states have already made big strides to include the activity for high schoolers, so the VPA doesn’t intend to be behind the eight ball.

“We want to plan rather than react to E-Sports,” Thomas said. “It’s a new frontier, for sure.”

There is a undeniable push to get teenagers away from computers and reduce screen time in general, but Thomas also sees a lot of positive opportunities for “gamers.” One of the basic goals to help get things off the ground is dispelling the myth that E-Sports isn’t an actual sport. Thomas noted that competitions involve non-violent games, with many promoting stretching, yoga and nutrition.

There will be training opportunities for potential coaches and the plan is to have lots of oversight in order to regulate behaviors. A big reason to add E-Sports as another extra-curricular activity is to promote a sense of belonging in the school. Attendance for students who participate in an after-school activity is far higher than for those that do not, so E-Sports could be a potential motivator for students to attend classes prior to a practice or event.

Nichols knows that there is some resistance to the movement, acknowledging that some schools want nothing to do with it. However, the VPA recently conducted a poll of principals and athletic directors and found that 75% of those individuals were interested. Nichols mentioned that there was an initial resistance to including bass fishing as a varsity sport several years ago and now it’s a huge success story across the state. Ultimately, he believes that encouraging E-Sports is better than having a student go home from 3-7 p.m. with no parent around.

Unruly behavior

Fans returned to the sidelines over the past year after competitions were held the previous year with limited or zero spectators due to Covid. As the cheering increased, the VPA reported that the number of officials started to dwindle in certain sports because of poor behavior exhibited by those in attendance.

Nichols has not observed a drastic change in fan behavior over the past few decades, though he says that student-athletes are now more likely to speak up about an incident.

“Twenty years ago, people would just ignore it,” Nichols said. “They’d say, ‘Boys will be boys and that’s how it is.’”

Suring the past fall and winter seasons there were a heap of high-profile situations where fans or student-athletes were accused of acting inappropriately. A girls soccer game between Hartford and Fair Haven ended prematurely due to one incident, while another girls soccer match between Lamoille and Missisquoi led to some controversy. There were follow-up investigations after a boys soccer match between Winooski and Enosburg, and then the Spartans had a heated championship basketball game vs. Hazen. Several other incidents resulted in ADs removing the entire student body from a venue.

Nichols noted there is a procedure to suspend a school from competition, recalling when a previous Milton boys hockey team had a bunch of fights and was forced to hang up its skates for the rest of the season. Officials and administrators are constantly tasked with monitoring if anything rises to the level of harassment. And if it does, they must take action to stop the behavior from happening again.

Thomas admits that schools are not going eradicate racism or misogyny, but she believes they can serve as places to tackle those issues. She singled out the rise in social media as one way that certain situations can be amplified when, in fact, it’s really just one or two bad apples at the heart of the problem. The VPA members agreed that there’s a need to work collectively to bring back a positive school spirit and make all competitions family-friendly events where everyone feels comfortable.

Two veteran officials were inducted into the VPA Hall of Fame last year, providing a positive example for the next generation. The lack of referees and umpires threw a wrench in lots of scheduling plans recently, forcing some football, basketball, baseball and softball games to be moved or postponed. A handful of schools will not pencil in a competition until there is the guarantee of officials, forcing assigners to line everything up far in advance.

One thing Nichols worries about is newer officials being targeted at the junior varsity or freshman level when they are still learning the rules of the game themselves.

“If they weren’t officiating, you wouldn’t have a game,” he said.