AURORA, Colo. — On Monday, Aurora Parks and Recreation Department opened the first of two new eSports hubs inside of recreation centers.
"eSports is not just video games in general. It's just being competitive. It's having a community in video gaming, and it's establishing that network of friends," said Troy Johnan, the recreation supervisor for the City of Aurora Parks and Recreation Department.
The hubs are stocked with 10 gaming PCs, a PlayStation 5 and a Nintendo Switch.
"You get League of Legends, Marvel Rivals, Fortnite, Rocket League, Minecraft is huge on the PCs," said Johnan. "Minecraft camp is one of our biggest programs that we do partners, and we do engineering basics, and we give them engineering tasks to follow through, and they kind of build on that teamwork and that communication through the chats that we build."
All of the games at the hubs are rated for teens or younger ages.
"I played for fun, but then, once I realized I was decent at it, I'm a competitive person, so it's just the drive to try to do something with it," said Daylen Cardwell, who stumbled upon the hub at the Central Rec Center.
He said he has participated in eSports tournaments, and won before.
"I love my mom, but she always thinks we're just like playing, just because we have nothing else to do. And me and my brother find it actually engaging," said Cardwell.
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"Not every student is going to be blessed with some crazy athletic ability, and so to have an area that you can add value to your school campus, and then know that it pays off down the road is huge. And I would go a step further and say that it's not just in the eSports world, it's not just playing the game itself. There's the technical code writing. They're all the things around this activity that also lend themselves to opportunities at the college level," said Rashaan Davis, the assistant commissioner at CHSAA.
The second eSports hub will open on Tuesday at the Southeast Recreation Center.
Aurora's eSports Lounge opened in the Expo Community Center back in 2022. Parks & Rec staff told Denver7 they hope adding the hubs to more locations makes it easier for kids to access the amenity.
Access to the hubs are free with a rec center membership.
