Connecticut high school sports are regulated by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).  The CIAC sets forth rules and regulations on how high school sports will be conducted in the state.  Among these are rules protecting the health and safety of participating students.

The CIAC 2022-2023 Handbook codifies these rules.  The CIAC limits the number of contests per week in which a student may participate.  The CIAC requires “schools” to ensure that student athletes are “properly conditioned and prepared” for the athletic contest.

The CIAC states:

“No team/athlete shall practice/compete with their school more than six (6) consecutive days to provide a day of rest.”

The CIAC requires coaching certification and/or training in the following health concern areas: cardiac arrest, concussion and concussion mandated reporting, dehydration and other heat illnesses, and EpiPen training.

However, when it comes to protecting students from the threat of esports online gaming health risks, Hartford Public Schools, CIAC, and the company pushing Esports programs into Hartford’s schools, have thus far absolved themselves of any responsibility to the student with the absence of regulations pertaining to monitoring screen time, whether it be during practice or competition, and places the responsibility on the parents of the students.

As mentioned in “Hartford School to get Esports Lab,” the long-term physical effects of “excessive” screen time on the adolescent brain is well known and the research is growing.  “Excessive” screen time has been defined as anything over 2 hours a day, and the Mayo Clinic recommends limiting screen time to any child over the age of 2 to one or two hours a day. 

As stated by “PlayVS,” the current esports platform provider for the esports team at University High School of Science and Engineering (UHSSE), an individual esports contest lasts for up to 2 hours.  Unmonitored and unstructured playing/practicing at home, or in an esports lab, will certainly go well beyond 2 hours a day.  Young adult students at John Hopkins University say that is “common” for gamers to stay up until 3 in the morning “playing Starcraft.”

At the January Hartford Board of Education Regular Meeting, which granted “Stay PluggedIn” (SPIN) a contract to build and manage an esports program at UHSSE, the principal of UHSSE, Sean Tomany, was asked if he was aware of the health risks associated with esports online gaming, he said he was not.  Apparently, no one involved in creating this program in Hartford schools is aware of the risks.  And, without guidance, how many of Hartford parents are aware of the risks?

The esports page created for UHSSE by PlayVS, has no information, warning, or guidance for students or parents regarding the research based risks associated with online gaming.  The PlayVS “Parent Guide” has no information or warning regarding the risks, only to say that “parents” should “monitor” their child’s screen time.  The CIAC webpage for esports online gaming mentions nothing about the risks, and their “Parent’s Guide to High School Esports” link is non-functioning.  The CIAC Handbook has nothing to say regarding the risks.  HPS has nothing on their pages representing parent information or warnings about the physical risks of screen time on adolescent brains.  The webpages of SPIN contain no safety information or warnings to students or parents.  HPS leadership and the Board required no information or warnings be presented to the students or their parents as a requirement for the awarding of 2 separate contracts to SPIN for bringing more esports to Hartford.  These folks should follow the lead of TikTok, which has set a 60-minute per day screen time limit for teens.

At the Boards’ February Regular Meeting, interested parties appeared as HPS sought to expand the esports program into 3 more schools; Betances Stem, Classical Magnet, and SMSA.  UHSSE’s Principal Tomany was again on hand, however, since January, he has “done some reading” on the effects of excessive screen time on the brain, some “John Hopkins stuff,” he stated. 

Tomany stated that “esports is not adding to the screen time, it is an outlet for it.”  He goes on to say that everyone is constantly on their phones, esports allows students to have a “structured” outlet for their screen time.  I believe he meant for this to be some of that “John Hopkins stuff.”  However, he spoke nothing of what the “John Hopkins stuff” said about the potential physical health effects of online gaming. 

A search of research by John Hopkins University, they themselves with an esports league, shows that John Hopkins’ research has been focused on the mental and psychological effects of online gaming.  They focus their research on the possible addictive effects and social effects, for instance, your child growing up and living in a dark basement with his game controller and conversing only with other faceless gamers online.  I found no research “stuff” by John Hopkins which spoke to the physical effects of online gaming.  Much of the John Hopkins “stuff” is a dubious attempt at discrediting the labeling of “gaming disorder” as a medical condition by the World Health Organization.

The health risks associated with online game should not be ignored.  Information and warnings should be posted on any school gaming webpages.  HPS should inform and warn students and parents of the risks involved in what may appear to be a harmless, often beneficial use of online screen time.

• Harvard Medical research found that “digital devices can interfere with everything from sleep to creativity,”

• Psychology Today researchers have demonstrated that “excessive screen time damages the brain,” resulting in “gray matter atrophy, and reduced cortical thickness,” affecting “emotional processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control.”

• The Mayo Clinic, the folks who first demonstrated the link between insulin and diabetes, says that there is a link between “too much” screen time and obesity, irregular sleep, behavioral problems, impaired academic performance, and violence.

• A 2-year longitudinal study in Singapore found that “depression, anxiety, social phobias, and lower school performance seemed to act as outcomes of pathological gaming.”

When training and safeguards are not put in place, school kids suffer.

• A Washington school district will pay $5.25 million to the family of a high school student who died from a heart attack that happened during a 2018 football practice. The lawsuit says three coaches failed to recognize the sudden cardiac arrest symptoms and didn’t resuscitate him or retrieve a nearby automated external defibrillator.

• A Georgia school district has reached a $10 million settlement with the family of a student who died of heatstroke during basketball practice in 2019.  Elite Scholars Academy staff were accused of violating rules set by the Georgia High School Association regarding sports in the heat. Additionally, the school allegedly lacked required equipment for mitigating the risk of injuries in the heat. 

When questions are asked of the folks driving this issue into HPS, none of them speak to the physical health concerns, which are real.  Principal Tomany and his colleagues from Betances, Classical, and SMSA, as well as the folks from SPIN, divert the conversation to the possible benefits; less chronic absenteeism, increase in GPA, a developed connection with the school, and non-athletic students suddenly have something which may produce trophies, awards, notoriety, and scholarships.

Principal Tomany speaks of “3” students whose chronic absenteeism problem was solved by UHSSE’s esports program, and of the passion of “one” other student, ready to flip his failing school record in order to get on the esports team.  UHSSE, on at least their second year with an esports team, is not, as a school, showing the benefits of having such a program.

Mr. Tomany stated at the January meeting that an esports program would have positive effects on enrollment at UHSSE.  While UHSSE’s esports team was on their way to winning a State Championship last season, Edsight data shows that the school’s total enrollment dropped from last year into this year. 

Last year, 30% of UHSSE students were chronically absent.  Last year only 61% UHSSE students met or exceeded SAT standards for ELA, and that number is the lowest it has been in at least the last 5 years, 8% less than where the school stood in the 2015-16 school year.  Ditto for the average UHSSE SAT math score, more than 100 points lower than what it was 5 years ago.

As for the mentioned culture and climate benefits brought to schools with an esports team, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez’s Fall 2022 Culture and Climate Survey found that only  49% of UHSSE students felt connected to their school, and only 51% said they liked coming to school.  As for parents getting in on the scholastic hooyah, the Superintendent’s survey only managed to snag 19 of those folks for a response, and only 53% said that there’s a school/community connection – only 19 UHSSE parents answering her survey pretty much tells you the state of that connection.

When local leaders and their minions do not have the  political and analytical wherewithal to do the right thing, federal and state governments step in and create more onerous regulations than what is required.  With esports gaming in high schools in its infancy, now is the time for HPS, CIAC, and the companies pushing these programs, to set monitoring standards and develop training to recognize the symptoms of potential physical and mental effects of gaming on students.