{"id":1522,"date":"2025-03-12T12:24:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T17:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2025-03-12T13:51:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T18:51:40","slug":"jccc-esports-club-aims-to-build-competitive-gaming-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/03\/12\/jccc-esports-club-aims-to-build-competitive-gaming-community\/","title":{"rendered":"JCCC Esports Club Aims to Build Competitive Gaming Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students gather in one of the computer labs in the CoLab to play video games like Super Smash Bros. (Photo by Vaughn Wheat.)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The Esports Club at Johnson County Community College is working to establish a strong gaming community for students interested in casual and competitive play. The club meets in the CoLab at 5 p.m. every Monday, providing a space for students to connect, improve their skills, and explore opportunities in the growing gaming world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Building a Team Culture\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Recruitment and retention remain key challenges as the club continues to grow. To attract new members, the club advisor regularly visits the student lounge, engaging with students and inviting them to participate. The club offers a welcoming environment where players can compete, receive advice, and refine their skills in games such as Super Smash Bros.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI try to give as much advice as I can in Super Smash Bros,\u2019\u2019 club founder, Gabriel Romero said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also had another esports player step in to coordinate for other games, so we want to create a space where people can come to have fun but also improve if they want to compete at a higher level.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond casual play, the club aims to develop a strong team culture. Leaders encourage deeper connections among members, emphasizing that engagement goes beyond just playing video games.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a deeper connection than just playing video games is probably the biggest part of keeping people engaged,\u2019\u2019 Romero explained. \u201c…but sometimes I don\u2019t have time to talk to everyone individually, and I think that can drive some people away.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Training and Competitive Goals\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

While an official competition team has not yet been formed, members with competitive experience have introduced structured training methods. Strategies such as video analysis, known as \u201cVOD reviewing\u2019\u2019 help players evaluate past performances, identify areas for improvement, and prepare for future competitions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe watch past matches, talk about what we can improve on, and then go out and compete together,\u2019\u2019 Romero said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the club expands, there is interest in organizing teams for emerging esports titles. One goal for the near future is to create a competitive team for Marvel Rivals, a newly popular game that is increasing tournament opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMore competitions are being built for it, and I\u2019d love to have a team,\u2019\u2019 Romero said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s one team with substitutes or two separate teams at different levels, I think it would be cool.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Future of Esports at JCCC<\/b><\/p>\n

The Esports Club is focused on growing its membership and providing both casual and competitive players with opportunities to engage in organized gaming. Whether through friendly matches on campus or potential tournament participation, the club aims to foster a dynamic gaming culture at JCCC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHaving a deeper connection than just playing video games is probably the biggest part of keeping people engaged,\u2019\u2019 Romero explained. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[148,149],"ppma_author":[150],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-esports","tag-gabriel-romero"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/03\/3-7-25-Esports-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/brian-trejo\/","display_name":"Brian Trejo"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Sports<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sports<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Esports<\/a>","Gabriel Romero<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Esports<\/span>","Gabriel Romero<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 years ago","modified":"Updated 2 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on March 12, 2025","modified":"Updated on March 12, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on March 12, 2025 12:24 pm","modified":"Updated on March 12, 2025 1:51 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":150,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"brian-trejo","display_name":"Brian Trejo","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Brian","last_name":"Trejo","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/03\/3-7-25-Esports-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1534,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/1534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}