ESports is now a competitive team, playing against other colleges across the nation.

Hunter Walls-Woods, current team captain and junior management major from Buffalo Gap, said he helped start the team in hopes that it will become a club sport by the end of the spring semester.

ESports competes against other teams enlisted in the South Region of The eSports Association (TESPA). The team participates in multiple games including Overwatch, Call of Duty, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros and more.

Woods said he is creating a program to help keep the eSports team competing after he graduates.

“Even now I’m doing my best to create a program and a structure,” said Woods. “If were to ever leave, it can continue to grow even without me here,” Woods said. “ESports is a new thing and we’re not the first college to do it, but we are definitely on the newer edge of it. I think even though ACU is a smaller school, our eSports program can be that one thing that competes at a really high level.”

The team competed in their first tournament, Op Live Dallas, last month where they finished in the top eight, beating Arkansas and SMU.

Beginning on Oct. 1, the team has been competing in the Hearthstone College Championship Tournament where they have defeated top schools including Tennessee, South Florida, Clemson and most recently Georgia Tech.

Jose Garcia, senior Biology major from Abilene, said he never thought he would be competing in eSports at ACU.

“It feels great honestly,” Garcia said. “I grew up gaming; it was the one thing I got connected to through friends. Once I got to ACU and heard Hunter was setting up the program I thought ‘I can play, I love playing games.”