HOLYOKE — “The whole athletic landscape is changing,” says Tom Stewart, director of athletics at Holyoke Community College, as he spoke about HCC’s newest sports team — of video gamers.

Now that facilities and a coach have been secured, HCC is gearing up for its first esports season, set to begin in January.

Esports, or electronic sports, is competitive multiplayer video gaming, and it’s surging in popularity around the country. Since 2018, 1,200 colleges and 8,600 high schools have added esports programs, some even offering scholarships to talented gamers.

The growing level of interest led Stewart to place an esport room in the heart of the school’s athletic complex: the Bartley Center. After removing a white board and projector, the space went from being a classroom to a fortified gaming space, with 10 new gaming stations, controller, and desktops, allowing for two teams of five players to compete simultaneously. In the middle of the room, a rug and Adirondack chairs “make it feel homey” said Stewart.

Despite the homey accents, Stewart made clear his philosophy on the space. The space is not meant to be a club or hobby setting, but meant to serve as the “playing field” for recruited team members to compete against opposing schools and teams.

“Kids aren’t just going to come in here and bang on keys,” said Stewart, who added, “It’s a little more comprehensive than that.”

The college spent $35,000 on refurbishing the space this past summer, and players will have access to the room only with the supervision of a coach.

Like student athletes, esport players will be held to an academic standard of at least a 2.0 GPA, and there will be a focus on the health and stamina of gamers, who will need to participate in fitness and nutritional conditioning.

“You don’t have to be a great athlete in order to be a good esports person. You gotta be a great strategist,” said Stewart, adding that, “This is along the same lines as chess. It shows forward thinking and outsmarting your opponent.

“They’re gonna go down and do some physical workout and keep the blood flowing, maybe 10 or 20 minutes on the treadmill. They’re not gonna live on Red Bull and junk. A good nutritional body helps the mind as well,” he said.

“And if you play for me, and you have three Fs and a D, that’s not gonna fly. You’re gonna have to get Cs, Bs and As to keep going.”

The season will last the duration of the academic year, with hopes currently set on beginning league competitions in January. HCC’s esports team will be joining the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC). Collegiate-level games offered by the ECAC, such as Rocket League and League of Legends, will be among the offered game options.

Last week, Tyler Linvingston was hired as the esports coach, and he will be actively recruiting members. Stewart relayed how Livingston had told him that he would start scouting other teams, with Stewart responding, “Are you kidding me? Scouting other teams for esports?”

For Stewart, this is part of the school’s efforts to “keep up with the cutting edge,” as HCC becomes the only community college west of Worcester to have an esports program.

“It’s a reservoir of kids I can recruit, which in turn helps the college recruitment numbers. And maybe it’ll help the kids who might not know if they want to go to college,” he said.