SEVIERVILLE — Sevier County High School had its first e-sports athlete to sign a scholarship to play competitive video games on the collegiate level Friday.
Ashton Preston signed with Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, to join the school’s Rocket League team.
Rocket League is a soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix, where the players are vehicles.
“You play against other schools in conferences,” Preston said. “In your application, you are a student athlete.”
The school has other video game teams competing, including teams for Madden, Overwatch, and Call of Duty. Though Preston will be primarily playing Rocket League, he said he has the option to join other teams once on campus.
He said he was thankful to the Esports Team and Cumberland University for the opportunity to play at the collegiate level.
The Cumberland Esports Gaming Arena opened in 2021 with a 10-monitor set-up for the Esports Team.
