There are still plenty of misconceptions around scholastic esports: kids are just playing games, esports lead to unhealthy screen time and poor academic performance, video games are isolating and don’t teach valuable skills.
The facts show different results. When scholastic esports are structured properly, many schools see student academic performance improving. Players learn valuable skills like teamwork and critical thinking, and a recent study shows that esports can also be a key component to student wellness and social cohesion.
According to John Phillips of Berrien RESA, an educational service agency serving over 24,000 students in Michigan, the true power of esports lies not in the technology, but in its ability to reconnect a generation of students who have faced unprecedented isolation.
Phillips recently was recently recognized with a Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award for his work in scaling Professional Learning programs across Michigan and his advocacy for esports and wellness.
The Great Generational Leveler
Phillips, whose agency encompasses a diverse mix of rural agricultural communities and corporate hubs near Benton Harbor, sees esports as a unique tool for equity. Unlike traditional athletics, which often rely on physical attributes or socioeconomic access to expensive equipment and travel leagues, esports opens the door for everyone.
“It is a great generational leveler,” Phillips says. “Players of any socioeconomic status can participate. It doesn’t matter if the student has high or low academic performance. None of that really matters in the esports space.”
This inclusivity extends to students with physical disabilities as well. Thanks to adaptive controllers and accessibility features from game publishers, students who might never make the football team can finally experience the camaraderie of varsity sports.
“We’re seeing all students get involved,” says Phillips. “I think that is one of the great leveling components we’ve had from esports. It could be the varsity quarterback or it could be a student who sits in the back of the class and doesn’t talk to anybody. They get to esports and all of a sudden that’s their thing.”
Busting the “Basement Dweller” Myth
Despite the inclusivity, administrators looking to start programs often face a significant hurdle: the stigma that gaming promotes sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles. Phillips is quick to point out that a well-run scholastic esports program actually teaches the opposite.
“Huge misconceptions include that these students don’t care about their health. All they care about is the screen and all they care about is button smashing,” Phillips says. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Phillips emphasizes that to be a competitor, students must master skills that include healthy nutrition, physical activity, and balance. He jokingly refers to the need for students to “touch grass”—a gamer term for disconnecting and going outside.
“What they don’t have mastered is: ‘How do I take care of myself?'” Phillips says. “How do I take care of my physical self so that I don’t end up with carpal tunnel or burning out or stress injuries? How do I take care of my mental wellbeing?”
By formalizing gaming into a school program, educators can provide the structure necessary to teach these wellness habits, addressing “rage quitting” and emotional regulation in a way that unsupervised home gaming cannot.
The Research: Safety and Social Cohesion
The push for wellness in esports isn’t just anecdotal; it is backed by significant research. Phillips highlights a partnership involving NASEF (Network of Academic Scholastic Esports Federations) and the Department of Homeland Security focused on reducing violence and radicalization in online spaces. The goal was to see if structured esports programs could foster social cohesion and reduce isolation.
Using the eight-step program developed by NASEF, the initiative sought to help students feel a stronger connection to their school community.
“The idea was: could putting those steps in place actually help students feel more social cohesion to the school? Could it help them feel more part of a team?” Phillips says.
By creating a supervised environment, schools can turn a potentially isolating activity into a community-building engine.
Building a Durable Program
For districts inspired to launch their own programs, Phillips offers a crucial piece of advice regarding sustainability: “It cannot be a single person’s passion project.”
While a passionate teacher is necessary to kickstart the initiative, long-term success requires a coalition of stakeholders, including administration, parents, and students. “If you have multiple stakeholders involved, that’s going to allow for that durability factor for this to continue,” he advises.
This community approach also helps in overcoming parental hesitation. Phillips suggests that the best way to win over skeptics is to invite them to get involved.
“They have to see it to believe it,” he says, noting that the demographic of parents is shifting toward those who grew up with video games, making the conversation easier than it was a decade ago.
Start with What You Have
Finally, Phillips addresses the financial barrier. Many districts assume esports requires a lab full of $3,000 gaming PCs. However, the barrier to entry has lowered significantly.
“You already have the infrastructure to start an esports program,” Phillips asserts. “With the advent of cloud gaming and Minecraft being on the Chromebook, that makes esports pretty universally available in schools.”
He also points to low-cost consoles like the Nintendo Switch as a viable entry point for games like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart. “It isn’t as though you need to invest thousands and thousands of dollars. Don’t let yourself get bogged down in what you don’t have,” he encourages. “Focus on what you do have and show that it can be successful.”
Ultimately, Phillips believes that for esports to remain a fixture in education, it must be about more than just entertainment. It must serve the whole child.
“I’m grateful to Tech & Learning for the opportunity to share the wellness side of esports,” Phillips says. “While gaming is cool, gaming on its own is not a durable function in schools. There has to be more to the calling. Whether it’s career pathways or wellness connections, those elements add the validity needed to integrate esports into both academic and social programming.”