ALPENA — Pied Piper Schools esports team is looking to provide students with new opportunities and experiences that they wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.

“Sixty-five percent of the students who participate in esports, have not participated in other extracurricular activities in the school year,” Alpena Montmorency Alpena Educational Service District Instructional Technology & Data Specialist Ashlie O’Connor said. “This is an opportunity to be a part of a sport — a nationally recognized sport that provides an equitable opportunity for collaboration. I’m a big believer in providing the most content for students of all abilities.”

The team consists of four students from Pied Piper Schools, one student from Alcona Community Schools, one student from Alpena Public Schools, and two students from Tawas Area Schools.

According to O’Connor, the students play ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’ in matches that take around an hour and can see the students competing against students from all over the country as a part of the Unified Sports League.

“You’re playing ‘Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,'” O’Connor said. “You’ll essentially have two Pied Piper students and two general education students paired up … Matches last about an hour and we have played students from Indiana, Washington, and Michigan.”

O’Connor states that esports helps the students not only bond and form lasting friendships with people all around the country or state but also helps them develop a plethora of useful skills.

“We have begun to practice and identify specific skills for the game through metacognition and slideshows,” O’Connor said. “We’re not only playing a game, but we’re learning how to realize the tools then utilize the resources within the guild to just kind of create this atmosphere that is constantly full of learning, but also connecting people all around the state and then making different friends.”

Pied Piper’s new team is just the most recent in an ongoing initiative by O’Connor and the AMA ESD to spread esports to the Northeast Michigan Area: an effort that has already brought an esports team to Alcona and Atlanta.

“Last year was creative Collaborative Sports Network which involved talking to our locals which are Alpena, Alcona, Atlanta, and Hillman,” O’Connor said. “With the support of MI stem we worked on getting equipment, educating local areas, developing a three-year implementation plan, and really trying to develop a foundation of what esports looks like. And I’m proud to say that in Atlanta, we’re programs up and running.”

O’Connor states she has already been in talks with Nicholas McDonald, the coach of the Alpena Community College’s esports team, about possible collaborations such as a local invitational.

“We’re talking about trying to host a local invitational for the local school districts,” O’Connor said. “And then also doing a collaboration and partnership with his students and Pied Piper.”