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ELA Speech Draft

In the 1970’s video games like Atari and Pong came out and have been growing ever since.

There are so many consoles now from different companies to choose from that play so

many different types of games. Now you can buy digital games to download to some

consoles and you no longer need to purchase the CD the games are on. The technology used

to create this gaming world is great and has come such a long way from the 70’s. People of

all ages play these games and are now able to communicate with others from all over the

country to play them. However, is it possible that playing video games is a sport? This is a

controversial subject and one that may be only looked at as opinion since there are now

teams that compete in E-Sports.

According to the Webster dictionary a sport is noted as a physical activity engaged

in pleasure. Some say that there is no physical activity engaged in gaming and others say

there is just on a smaller scale, or as in one article put it a “small field”. If you play

anything like I do the intensity is real and my parents would say that there is physical

activity in it. I tend to get engaged in my gaming, (hahaha). Just like in any sport there are

teams that wear uniforms or possibly clothing the represent the school’s colors they are

playing for. There is excitement and build up from others playing and watching the games

being played just like other teams have. There is an E-Sport league that has players

different levels depending on skill such as, varsity teams. Players on sports like football,

soccer, tennis, etc. spend many hours practicing and working as a team in addition to their

individual skills in that sport. The same is true for gamers that spend hours trying to do

better and increase their skill in the game they are playing. Some players are better at

certain games and may not be as good as other games. That is true for players in the other
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ELA Speech Draft

sports mentioned as well; they have the ability to do a certain job well in their sport then

other positions, and in the same way may not play another sport as well as they can the one

they play in. A football player may not do as well in soccer, or tennis and vice versa.

E-Sports takes team work and is a competitive activity. It is full of competition and

has winning and losing teams. There are strategies that need to be made when playing the

game and although players get at times overly excited there needs to be quick thinking and

coordination to get the outcome you are looking for. Players will gain development and can

even get into other beneficial skills like coding which can lead do more opportunities in the

future for some players as mentioned from Mr. Christopher Turner, an E-Sport coach in

Boston. Personally, I am on the E-Sports team here at CAVA and I am enjoying it. There

are a lot of things they are working out in team placements, but it has been a lot of fun and

I have met more peers now that all the years I have been at CAVA which are about 9 years

including this one. We are supposed to get jersey’s and we work together as a team and in

some cases teams. We go to practice and build on our skills. It is something I look forward

to and can hardly wait to compete against the other schools in the League (currently 60

schools compete). So, the question is, do you think E-Sports should be considered a sport?

References

Burton, Adam, Farnand, Sarah, and Sorbounov, Sophia. (February 23, 2021). Point-

Counterpoint: Are eSports Really Sports? Retrieved on the web at

https://www.mcgilltribune.com/sports/point-counterpoint-are-esports-really-sports-

02232021/
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ELA Speech Draft

Ryan. (Dec. 24, 2019). Should Video Games Be Considered A Sport? Yes! Here’s Why….

Retrieved on the web at https://www.idtech.com/blog/video-games-should-be-considered-a-

sport

Starecheski,Anna, Wilmore, Kathy. (January 6, 2020). Should Video Gaming Be a School

Sport? Retrieved on the web at https://junior.scholastic.com/issues/2019-20/010620/should-

video-gaming-be-a-school-sport.html

Speech Draft
Directions: Please write your speech draft here. Remember, your speech should be 2-3 minutes
long and include three rhetorical strategies. Please highlight your Thesis sentence so I can
check it.

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