The video gaming industry is a prosperous business that has evolved from its infancy in the 1970s as a leisure pursuit with enthusiasts to a skyrocketing juggernaut enterprise that offers esports professional team and career options among its most gifted gamers.
As of 2022, the global esports market was valued at $1.88 billion with continuing exponential growth within live streaming, investments, rising audience reach and the infrastructure for league tournaments.
Even at an institution of higher learning as academically decorated as the U.S. Military Academy, esports is a burgeoning activity among cadets as it is arguably one of the most monetary producing competitive clubs producing over $210,000 over the past two years, according to Victor Castro, Army West Point Esports (AWPE) director and West Point Simulation Center’s deputy director.
With monetary support from USAA, technology and in-kind value support from Extron, and the invaluable guidance of pro gaming coaches, the AWPE team has significantly advanced since it officially launched in 2020. Founded by two enthusiastic cadets, Nick Basile and Joseph Tucker, USMA Class of 2020, driven by their shared enthusiasm for playing Rainbow Six Siege, the team has made remarkable strides.
Castro was on board from the start, providing cadets a gateway to pursue their passion. The simulation center and adjacent laboratory on the sixth floor of Washington Hall offered the network infrastructure and simulation capabilities for them to drive forward.
“I’m an educational and instructional designer, I immediately triggered on the cadet passion and focus, so if they’re interested in (esports) that means we can layer learning, we can layer growth, we can layer anything that an eventual young lieutenant is going to have to be able to do,” Castro remarked of the cadets’ journey in 2019 to begin an esports program. “I challenged them, ‘OK, you want to do this, well, how are you going to do it? You need to do all the research, you go and come up with a presentation and we challenged them to build’ … eventually, we became Army West Point Esports because we were mandated to use our correct brand. So, in 2020, it was our official launch.”
AWPE – To infinity and beyond in the next five years
How did the AWPE team get here from nothing in 2019? It started with gaining traction with the Commandant’s Extracurricular Activities Board (CEAB), now the CEAB committee, with the big ask, “Would you accept this as a new club?”
As the team director, or de facto officer in charge, Castro has seen it all from the ground level collaborating with the cadets and dealing with the Directorate of Cadet Activities from an administrative action perspective for esports.
For the cadets, it was about leadership, which is what West Point is about, and the opportunity to experience building something from scratch. It started with three cadets who formed a Rainbow Six Siege team, then it grew to eight within an abbreviated period.
Now, there are about 90 cadets participating among the seven esports teams that compete in games such as Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, and the newly formed Apex Legends team that competes in the Octane League.
Castro marvels at the “amazing” growth of the collegiate esports program over the past four years. At West Point, the Overwatch team among the others, for example, is comprised of a Black team (varsity), Gold team (junior varsity) and Gray team (entry level) squads. Among the nearly 90 competitors across the seven teams, there are six talented female players.
When Basile and Tucker were initially gaining momentum in starting the program, they needed to identify specific objectives. They delved in discussions about the West Point Leader Development Strategy (WPLDS) and how esports could strike a balance within academic, military, character development, and physical programs at the academy. They also examined how the nature of the games themselves aligned with these objectives.
“I owed it to the board to make sure that we picked games that were relevant toward the design of WPLDS support,” Castro said. “Thus, all the games we chose were born. Something like Rainbow Six Siege, you have five individuals who face another five individuals, you have a set selection of weapons you can choose from, a set selection of operators who have specific skills, and then you have an objective that is timed.
“In a general sense, you can argue that it adheres with what we’re teaching in our military science coursework because the Department of Military Instruction is the sponsoring agency for esports,” Castro added.
Among the other games played by AWPE are Call of Duty World War II, League of Legends, Valorant and an all-female Rocket League team. All the games, minus Rocket League, have a military concept to them, which makes it important from the cadets’ perspective as growing military leaders.
Castro emphasized the importance of strategy in countering opponents and the adaptability to make good decisions within the games, and among teammates, effective communication was highlighted as the most crucial skill.
“The biggest aspect is communication – it’s not just happy go lucky playing these games,” Castro stated. “It’s like, ‘Hey, I’m here, help me or I’m about to be here. We need to do this together.’ Those are the types of comms that we’re looking for when (these cadets) start to do those things for the military.
“Similar to playing Rocket League, which is car soccer, there is a serious level of intensity that can happen at this level of competition,” he added. “When it comes down to it, it’s still about communication. You have to communicate your strategy; you’ve got to know your job.”
The X factor of being a great gamer is teamwork among multi-player games, sacrifice and, again, communication.
“If you have people who are not communicating, it just completely goes south,” Castro said. “Then, you come up against a five stack of Army West Point esports players, and the whole dynamic completely changes. You’re dealing with a group who is already reading the minds of the other players and communicating where they’re about to be and what they’re going to do when they get there – it’s almost unstoppable. The best teams are the ones that communicate the best.”
As the growth of the program continues, to be able to reach the “tip of the spear of esports,” as Castro calls it, it will require continued investment in the program to establish a solid operating budget and external support from sponsorships. It’s funding that will allow the team to do more travel outside of their simulation center dwelling, known as “The Cave,” and adding more and upgrading gaming equipment.
Subsequently, from a cadet perspective, the efforts of the players and ability to get better comes with being allowed more practice time or congregate as a squad without taking up too much of their spare time.
Their efforts are to the equivalent of a Division I NCAA program, and the team as of September was at a 52% win-rate. But to get better, the squad must get permissions to meet more frequently.
“To get our win-rate to 58% or better, we need authorizations that will allow our players to work Monday through Friday to practice against a university that is getting eight-to-10 hours a day to practice,” Castro explained. “We can barely get eight-to-10 hours of practice in a week. It’s tough knowing the regulation that governs authorizations.”
Authorizations would allow them to meet more than two hours a day and go through a more complex training regimen and scrimmages that every other sports team would do. It would also allow more team bonding to work out and study together.
Overall, as Castro explains, the popularity of esports will continue, and it is important to “ride the bullet train” as collegiate esports continues its growth.
“(The CEAB) realizes that it made a good decision because now we’re front loading everything,” Castro said. “What everybody’s recognizing is ‘Thank God,’ they are doing it. I would say in two-to-three years, we are going to be what right looks like for a collegiate program. We’re at the stage now where if we transition effectively over these next four years, we’re going to be one of the strongest programs in the United States.”
Rice Brothers trying to make their mark
It all started in the basement of their house, first on the Wii and then Xbox 360 and eventually to a computer, where 20-year-old twins, Gavin and Jackson Rice, began their journey in gaming.
The Class of 2027 cadet brothers enjoyed playing Call of Duty with their dad, Col. Lucas Rice, USMA Class of 1993, as a means to sharpen their skills. Jackson excelled at Call of Duty and even secured fourth place in a $100,000 tournament. Gavin initially struggled when transitioning from Xbox to a computer, feeing “awful” as he attempted to adapt his skills the keyboard and mouse, however, once he mastered the techniques, he “became addicted to the competition.”
Their parents, Lucas and Stephanie, USMA Class of 1994, advocated them playing Call of Duty early on because as service members, they wanted their boys to understand how a weapon was used and its dire results.
“Call of Duty was the perfect option where you click the trigger and you see somebody die,” Gavin explained.
Then you add their older brother, Class of 2025 Cadet Aiden Rice, who is a goaltender on the Army West Point men’ soccer team, and it was a terrific way to bond with each other.
“It took off quickly from there with us just spending hours and hours playing,” Gavin said.
When the esports season started in the fall, the brothers joined the Overwatch team as Gavin assumed the role of shot caller, responsible for making final decisions and leading the team.
“I was stressed because my whole job is whatever we do or fail to do in-game falls on me,” Gavin said.
Nevertheless, Gavin’s expertise truly shined in Apex Legends, prompting him to spearhead the establishment of an Apex Legends team at West Point. His talents were recognized when he received an invitation to participate in the Apex Legends Global Series Open. This semester, with their match last weekend on Feb. 10, Gavin assumed the role of captain of the Apex Legends Black team.
But the path to get to their first match with Apex Legends at the academy, where the team finished 11th place out of 20 teams, didn’t begin in their basement, but instead it started with their rigorous training to become infantry Soldiers.
The brothers went to Infantry Basic Training between their junior and senior years in high school, and then the next summer both of them went to the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School.
“We made the shotgun decision of enlisting because we both knew that we wanted to go to West Point,” Gavin said. “We had good grades in high school, but it was not like top 1% of your class like most people here.”
Jackson mentioned that he had a 3.7 GPA while his brother had a 4.3 GPA in high school.
“My brother got wait listed with a 4.3 … if he’s getting wait listed, we’re like crap,” Jackson said. “We wondered what options we had because COVID was going on and everything was shut down, and the options were limited. We both knew where we wanted to be, so the only confirming factor was if we enlisted. Gavin investigated it, found this path, and said, ‘we’re going to go for it.’”
The Powder Springs, Georgia, natives began their military journey in the Georgia National Guard to get to West Point.
Their dad, Lucas, who is in the Aviation branch, said he “couldn’t be prouder,” of their decision to come to West Point, however, both he and his wife reached a point where they felt the need to discuss the matter further. They wanted to ensure that their sons' choice to attend the academy stemmed from their own convictions and wasn't simply following their parents' lead.
Lucas said they chose to enlist based on COVID because they didn’t have opportunities for leadership roles in school and outside of school.
“They felt that was a gap they had, so they decided to enlist and work that avenue to make sure they got a competitive application,” Lucas said. “It was a challenge; we knew the requirements to get into West Point are very rigorous.”
When COVID hit, the brothers were spending hours and hours in their rooms, and Lucas and Stephanie felt like they were missing something as parents.
“That was until we scratched the surface and went a little deeper with them and realized what it was that they were doing with some of the online gaming, and, specifically, tied in at some point into the academy (Discord) network,” Lucas said. “We were pretty amazed.”
Lucas could see their passion and their deep engagement with the games, which led him to realize that it was more than just playing computer games.
“They were actually coordinating and talking to each other in their bedrooms in separate parts of the house,” Lucas said. “They were coordinating, communicating, directing and leading each other through games. We saw this start to emerge of the other skills that you look for in the academy, which is leadership and teamwork.
“For us as parents, we initially looked at it as you’re staring at a computer and playing a game, which is what we would have done 30 years ago,” he added. “Now, they are actually coordinating and that’s why this (esports) program is so amazing in that you can coordinate and really show leadership amongst your peers.
“I would listen to them talk to people all over the country. I would hear them saying, ‘Hey, hold up on the right, I’m going to go left,’ and that could correlate back to real life in combat scenarios where you would look at trying to coordinate an attack – that’s exactly what they were doing,” Lucas concluded. “That leadership piece that started to evolve was much more than just pushing buttons. You could see them do that while talking, so that overload never hit them. They were just able to do all of it – it’s amazing.”
Even in the Aviation branch, Lucas sees the younger officers and Soldiers coming in with their ability to fly and picking it up much faster due to the simulators in computers now, which Lucas said, “they’re so realistic.”
“A lot of the drone pilots now pick it right up and are able to start flying almost immediately versus it took us a year in flight school to really get a good feel for the helicopter,” Lucas said. “They can pick it up so much quicker because of the simulators that they have, and the game simulation are off the shelf games.”
Ultimately, Lucas’ hope is that his oldest son and twin sons come out of West Point as “well-rounded leaders.”
“At the end of the day, having grown up as military brats, they know what they’re getting into – they’ve got to put their own leadership style together,” Lucas said. “Having exposure to other cadets, even as sophomores and juniors in high school through esports (including conversations through the academy Discord), it really gave them the idea of I can do that, while I was hearing and listening to different leadership styles through the gaming platforms. Encompassing esports has brought an aspect to them that will round them out. We get the physical fitness, we get the military training and the academics, but this type of program is really what can bring all of that together.”
Inside Esports and Apex Legends: Through Gavin and Jackson’s eyes
At 20 years old, Gavin displays remarkable maturity. He started the esports fall season as the Overwatch shot caller before transitioning to his calling as the captain of the Apex Legends team that he started.
He began the esports fall season as the Overwatch shot caller before transitioning to his true role as the captain of the Apex Legends team, which he initiated. His diverse experiences, including his enlistment, have facilitated his smooth integration into the academy and equipped him to assume leadership responsibilities in Apex Legends.
“It’s been developmental. It was not easy going straight into a leadership position where I’m in charge of upperclassmen, where there are corporals (Yearlings) having to listen to a plebe,” Gavin said. “It’s been received well, and people understand where I’m coming from. With the other captains, they’ve been supportive of my position and making sure that whatever I say goes, and they have helped reinforce where I’m standing.”
Gavin is excited about growing the Apex Legends team in the right direction with the media and streaming applications helping grow the team and APWE even further.
With being a captain, and helping him develop as an officer, he believes the esports program is “a low stress, high development environment where I’m free to make mistakes and learn things.”
“Last week, Vic (Castro) sat me down and said, ‘You are a captain,’ … he put me in that mindset of I’m in a role where I have to make hard decisions and because I wanted to be everybody’s friend – I kind of coddled everybody’s feelings,” Gavin said. “He quickly snapped at me saying, ‘I have you in this role because I know you can do it. But you can’t be nice to everybody. You’re here to develop as a leader and to also develop your team.’ Looking back at it, he was correct.
“I ask him all the time about what I’m doing and the mentorship from him has been a huge part of it,” Gavin added. “I think having the opportunity to lead as a plebe and get into all these altercations, these interactions with upperclassmen where in day-to-day life they’re above me, is something that you will do as a leader. You’re going to interact with officers above you who may make a dumb call and you got to be, ‘Hey, that’s not what we should do,’ and I’ve had to do that a few times. I’m also presenting ideas to the (cadet in charge Adam Rocca), Vic and others where I’ll be doing that stuff as a PL and I’m getting to experience that now, but just in a different context with esports.”
The Apex Legends team performs in the Octane League, a combination of collegiate and pro teams, because ECAC does not have an Apex Legends field. However, Gavin hopes that the ECAC picks it up at some point in the near future.
Gavin knew some of his close friends at Prep School wanted to play Apex Legends, so he approached Castro with the idea and said, “Is this something that is even possible?” He said, “Absolutely.”
“One thing led to another and because it was my brainchild, it’s now my baby where I get the glorious role of having no rewards and all the work,” Gavin said.
Gavin’s best friend and roommate from Prep School, Class of 2027 Cadet Chancellor Brooks, serves as his Apex co-captain, and “he picks up what I can’t because there’s so much that goes on the captain side that’s hidden such as signing up every week for scrimmages.”
“I do have a lot of big picture things I talk to Vic about with what’s coming next year and how to grow the program, what I’m doing on my end with the coaches,” Gavin said. “Brooks has been great as my co-chair doing whatever I need him to do.”
A former AWPE Rainbow Six Siege competitor and USMA Class of 2021 graduate, Ben “Fern” Fernquist, has been helping as a coaching volunteer with the Apex squad along with another graduate.
“They provide different aspects of the game and when blended together, it allows for a lot of growth for us,” Gavin said.
His brother, Jackson, has been helpful as the Apex Gold team coach helping since he is knowledgeable about the game. And they are a duo when it comes to playing the game especially in the scrimmages against guys trying to turn professional.
And as he settles into his captain’s chair, Gavin does participate in independent studies with the Department of Math and helping with image generation for photo recognition AI.
“That’s kind of my other child, which is working with computers and video games, software and such,” said Gavin, who is interested in military intelligence. “It’s been a side project of mine.”
The Apex team currently has seven players with five on the Black team and two on the Gold squad. The hope is to have 15 players at some point in the next year, and they all can experience what the current team is feeling as a group.
“I love my teammates. The esports team, we’re a family at the end of the day, we’ll all hang out … we genuinely enjoy being around each other,” Gavin said. “Apex has been a great catalyst where we’re all competitive, but we also get that home feeling where we have a place where we’re in charge, we can do what we want, and we can have a good time.”
As for Jackson, the first semester started out rough academically, but this semester so far, he has been producing B-pluses in his courses.
“I learned from my mistakes and learned my lessons,” said Jackson, who also participates with the Ski Patrol Club. “Vic (Castro) helped me with my struggles to get me through, he made sure he gave us the Cave for a study space.”
The team has the ability to take off with experienced player captains, graduate mentors like Fernquist and a couple of professional coaches to help train the squad. As for Jackson, it is exciting that the spring season has now begun with all the anticipation of playing in tournaments and scrimmages leading into the season.
“We have competed in tournaments with people who are trying to go pro,” said Jackson about their scrimmages against non-Octane League competition. “These people are predators, which is the highest rank they can get in the ranks. Pro teams that pay their people money to play, we go against those who are trying out for them.
“We’ve had multiple scrims where we’ve placed top 10%, top 50%, and there have been only two games out of the eight that we have played that we’ve not been top 50%,” he added. “Our outlook for the Black team is looking really good right now. During the first semester, our Gold team was setting up to learn the game and the scrim setups with our Black team. We have everything locked in now and we now must perform our best to get our name out there.”
As username T2U, Jackson is excited to get going because he believes he is doing pretty good as the team heads into the season. He is excited about the team, their new jerseys, being able to stream their competitions and getting exposure for the AWPE Apex Legends team.
“We’re just brand new and now we are driving toward something,” said Jackson, who hopes to branch either aviation or infantry someday. “We want to get more content out there for everyone … there’s such a drive, there’s such a fire beneath this whole team that we have, especially our Black players who are trying their best for (Army) esports and the (Apex) club.
“I’m looking forward to our performance and building up as a team,” Jackson added. “With us seeing the birth of this new thing, this game called Apex, and seeing the development of our players and how we’re going to do at this high level is going to be rewarding and amazing just to witness. It will be exciting to witness what I started and what I got to create with my brother and my best friend (Brooks).”
Jackson said the goal of this season is to be “top 50% in anything we enter for Apex,” but also added that because they are such a new team that, “we don’t really have a goal yet.”
“Ultimately, our goal is to develop each other as leaders and also as better communicators, and get the program recognized at a higher level,” he explained. “At the end of the day, esports has made me grow as a leader. and if we had more time (by receiving authorizations) and we had more resources, imagine what we could do.”
Castro has high praise for his two rising gaming stars knowing that their zeal and success here will build toward a technological future as great Army officers.
“It’s a demonstration of the intrinsic passion that comes from gamers and how they’re using it for their own success,” Castro said. “The passion and focus are there, which means that learning can also be there. That’s important for us at the academy because now I can tie in the things they should be doing, the relationships they are building right now with people who play now that’s similar to what happens in these formations in the Army.
“Things that happen after hours, what happens when they put on a gaming event for their platoon?” Castro added. “They’ll know how because they enjoy it, but they can actually resonate and connect with their Soldiers in the platoon. Our young lieutenants will stand in front of a formation where almost 43 to 48% of that formation play games in some capacity – there’s a way for them to connect.
“They’re experiencing what’s right and what’s wrong to how to use simulations in training and where it does really fit,” he concluded. “This is going to have a correlation to what they’re doing now as esports players to what they’re going to be using for technology in the future.”
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