In 1972, Steward Brand organized a tournament at Stanford University to play a video game called Spacewar. The winner of this first Esport was awarded a year’s subscription to Rolling Stone magazine. The late 1970s-80s marked the golden age of video games and arcades, but it wasn’t until around 2010 that the idea of Esports transitioned from amateur hobbyists to a professional enterprise. With the growing popularity of professional video game tournaments, the Esport industry moved beyond the virtual world and evolved to include robotic competitions like battle bots and drone racing. Today, drone racing is one of the most widespread and lucrative Esports. But there is a new Esport on the rise that combines drone technology with the most popular sport in the world, soccer.

Drone soccer was introduced in South Korea before gaining the attention of drone clubs in Europe. By 2018, the World Air Sports Federation, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, declared drone soccer an international sport, the only educational robotics competition to receive the honor. In 2020, drone racing legend David Roberts, in coordination with the World Air Sports Federation, founded Drone Sports Inc. out of Colorado. With the help of retired combat pilot Maj. Kyle Sanders and design engineer Bill Aumer, David began recruiting high schools to join the drone soccer league.

As Maj. Sanders explains, drone soccer is kind of like Quiddich from Harry Potter. A team of a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 players stands outside of a protective plastic cage. Inside at the top of the cage is a circular goal. The two teams have to pilot a drone through the goal, while simultaneously preventing their opponents from scoring. Each team member pilots a different drone. There is one drone pilot that is trying to score goals, while the others pilot a slightly smaller drone defensively and offensively. The drones are encased in a protective sphere, resembling the shape of a soccer ball, to absorb impact from the full-contact sport.

On Sunday, April 3, 2022, the first ever US Drone Soccer Championship Showcase was held inside the Wildcat Field House at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, NY. The event was sponsored by SUNY and CNY Drones, Central New York’s community educational drone initiative. Due to COVID restrictions, the competition was by invitation only. But students from around the Central New York area were all encouraged to apply and test their skills. While drone soccer is a fun, fast paced, high adrenaline Esport, its roots are in education.

Educators have gladly welcomed drones into their STEM curriculums. Drones are uniquely positioned to cover multiple factors of STEM programs. The programs tend to be affordable and introduce educational concepts in a way that is entertaining and engaging, a rarity in many classroom settings. “Our mission is to make aerospace education accessible for all students,” said David. By bringing Esports like drone soccer into classrooms, kids are given the opportunity to grab onto STEM education in one of the most enriching ways possible.

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