California university offers eSports scholarship for top Overwatch players

This autumn a US university will begin offering scholarships to students who are amazing at Overwatch.

As reported by ESPN, University of California Irvine will offer this as the second title in its esports scholarship series, which kicked off last autumn with League of Legends.

UCI's eSports scholarship attendees will receive $2500 a year for their commitment to kicking ass at a video game, so long as they dedicate 15-20 hours per week for "practice, team meetings, community service, workouts, and competitions" during the game's season.

Like a physical sport, UCI's competitive eSports players will have access to the university's athletic support such as coaches, personal trainers, and a team psychologist.

This legitimising of Overwatch and eSports was spawned in part by the student body's love for the game. As it turns out, UCI already had a gaming club with its own dedicated Overwatch team. This passionate group of students won the eSports tournament Tespa Summer Series in 2016 and went undefeated in the Tespa Collegiate Series the following season.

"We look forward to connecting the excitement generated by our competitive teams to advance efforts along our other pillars: Academics, Community and Entertainment," said acting director of UCI eSports Mark Deppe.

Deppe added that Overwatch's fanbase falls in line with the university's goal of making the program "more inclusive and accessible to groups that are underrepresented in esports."