The University of Texas at Arlington recently won the Collegiate Esports Invitational, with the winning Mavericks earning $6,000 in scholarships.

“Being able to represent UTA and win the Collegiate Esports Invitational is a big and exciting victory for us,” said Drew Boehm, coach and assistant director of UTA Esports. “We fought hard to make it through to the finals and claim victory as the grand champions, and I'm proud of our guys for showing up the way they did, giving it their all 100% of the time and not giving up even when things were tough.”

Cesar Rea, a junior studying computer science, said he enjoys being part of the initial group of esports players at UTA.

“If I told myself five years ago that I could earn scholarship money while playing the game I love, I would have never believed it,” Rea said. “Throughout the tournament, the team didn’t break a sweat until the semifinals. We started to see the increase of skill between teams and had to focus up.”

UTA Esports is a varsity program for students who participate in competitive and organized video gaming. More than 300,000 viewers watched the final match. Some recorded game play from the single-elimination championship bracket event can be seen here.