Williamsburg, KY – The University of the Cumberlands Athletic Department will join the latest trend of high-tech sports competition beginning in the fall of 2018. The Patriots have announced that eSports will become the 31^st varsity sport offered beginning in August of 2018.  UC started eSports in the fall of 2017 as a club sport with Jeremiah Brown serving as the head coach.  

"Our school has been on the leading edge of online education, as well as growth and development in the IT world," said Chris Kraftick, Director of Athletics at UC. "Our eSports athletes fit that narrative. I think any time we can incorporate students with varied interests, talents, and backgrounds, it strengthens the campus community."

Players will train together, competing in the Collegiate Starleague, which hosts nine games across all platforms, including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Madden NFL, and Overwatch. Members of the team will participate in scrimmages and tournaments across the country, looking to bring points and recognition to UC.

"This is an exciting opportunity and I'm very glad to be part bring eSports to Cumberlands," said Brown. "The goal is to build the program so that we have a competive team in all nine games."

Academic requirements for the team mandate that students must be enrolled in 12 or more credit hours per semester and must maintain a 2.5 or higher grade point average. Students must also have gaming experience: ranking silver at least once, and being able to supply their own mobile laptop or personal computer with an operating system of Windows 8 or higher.

Recruiting is already underway and any student-athletes that are interested in the eSports team can contact Coach Brown at jeremiah.brown@ucumberlands.edu.
Cumberlands is the second Mid-South Conference school and the fourth school in the Bluegrass State to compete in eSports.

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics, please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter - @UC_Patriots, Instagram - @UCPatriots, SnapChat - @UC_Patriots, YouTube – Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.