UMSV unveils new ESPORTS facility

The University of Mount Saint Vincent (UMSV) held an official grand opening of its new esports facility at Founders Hall and was attended by more than 100 students and staff.

Phil Stern, the school’s associate vice president for athletics and recreation, was excited to launch the new facility which is open to all UMSV students, faculty and staff. It features four games played competitively by four university ESPORTS rosters — Street Fighter, Tekken, Super Smash and NBA 2K teams. 

“This space will provide a common area for competition to make new friends and to learn more about the gaming industry,” Stern said.

The four ESPORTS teams at UMSV compete in the NCAA’s Division III Skyline Conference, along with the university’s other sports teams.

“This state-of-the-art facility represents a significant step forward for our university, providing our students with cutting edge resources to explore the rapidly growing world of gaming,” Susan Burns said, president of USMV.

Burns views ESPORTS as a dynamic field fostering teamwork, strategic thinking and technological proficiency, with the new facility serving as a hub for competitive play, learning, innovation and community building.

“ESPORTS is more than just a game,” she added. “As we cut this ribbon, we open the door to new opportunities and experiences for our students.”

Construction of the university’s ESPORTS facility broke ground last summer and the school refused to disclose the cost of the facility which features an extensive variety of gaming equipment, including a PlayStation 5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Gaming PC and a 90-inch screen.

The setup includes the “center stage” which allows for a team of up to six players. In total, the space features 18 gaming stations in a dimly-lit, arcade-like setting

“We’ve come a long way from playing ping pong and Atari,” Stern added.

UMSV’s NBA2K roster, led by team captains Logan Phillips and Jackson Showalter, is currently ranked number one in the Unified Pro-Am Association (UPA) College League, a worldwide NBA 2K platform, with an overall record of 21-1.

The ESPORTS Team is housed under the umbrella of the Athletic Department and will enjoy all the resources UMSV’s 15 other varsity sports teams benefit from, including access to the Athletic Department’s recruiting software and athletic training room, according to UMSV.

The university’s ESPORTS head coach, Jadd Schmeltzer, who was drafted by the MLB’s Boston Red Sox in 2011 as a pitcher and later played minor league baseball, said it has been a thrill to be a part of the evolution of ESPORTS at Mount Saint Vincent.

“It seems like everything is coming together now,” Schmeltzer said. “We started this program from scratch and now ESPORTS is part of the school’s athletic department.”

Schmeltzer was named the school’s ESPORTS inaugural head coach in July, and has a roster of under ten students across four teams, each of whom he recruited from high schools in NYC and as far as Kansas City and Ohio.

“Jadd [Schmeltzer] told me about this opportunity for me to go back to school and be a part of this new team he’s building,” Joel Lopez said, ESPORTS player and freshman at UMSV, who has a job in the 2K Games industry as an Esports Curriculum Specialist at the Center for Educational Innovation (CEI.)

At CEI, Lopez designs and delivers daytime and after-school Esports programs for schools across the city, while he also helps build thriving gaming communities within schools.

“I love gaming so it made sense to be a part of this process,” Lopez added.

Schmeltzer thinks participation at the new facility will increase as more and more students get acquainted with it.

In the future, the school’s ESPORTS facility has plans to host events for middle school, high school and professional gamers.

As part of the university’s 2022-2025 strategic plan, the school looked to expand athletic programs based on student interest and cost-benefit analysis to enhance its liberal arts, professional academics and co-curricular programs.

With the launch of this cutting-edge ESPORTS facility, UMSV has not just built a space for gaming – it has also contributed to the future of collegiate athletics.