Clearwater youth esports arena opens Saturday

For Christine Baron, it all started with a walk across the bay.

“A couple of years ago I was faced with a lot of life changes,” she said. “When I need to think I often take a walk across the Courtney Campbell Bridge. And as I was walking across the bridge I thought, ‘What do I want to be when I grow up?’ And I said, ‘I want to own an esports league.’”

For Baron that dream becomes a reality Saturday with the 1 p.m. grand opening of the Clearwater XP League Arena, located at 28909 US Highway 19 N, just north of Countryside Mall. At its opening this will be the first XP League youth esports division in Pinellas County. 

Baron first discovered esports as a potential opportunity while pursuing her master’s degree at the University of South Florida in 2019. At first she feared she’d be a fish out of water, she said. But “I stood in the back of the room and I listened … what I walked away with is that this is a growing industry with a lot of opportunity.”

Having focused her attention, she discovered the youth-oriented XP League and was immediately drawn to the opportunity to create a space for young people to socialize, learn teamwork and build skills exactly the way they would in other youth oriented team sports – “a Little League for gamers.” 

An experienced human resources executive, she noted the explosion of career opportunities in both pro-gaming and related fields – and the challenge for young people looking to get their foot in the door. “Right now there’s no path for young gamers to follow to develop their skills and interests in gaming,” she noted. “The barriers to entry for competitive gaming are just extremely high.”

XP League removes those barriers: Parents are able to sign their daughter or son up just as they would Little League or Pop Warner, and they will join a team with others and compete against XP League teams from across North America. The arena provides XP League coaches who train their charges, not just in how to game but how to play – teaching positive psychology, sportsmanship and teamwork. 

“I like calling it an arena because it’s the place you go to participate – it’s the place you go to play,” Baron said as she described basing her design on Full Sail University’s Orlando Health Esports Fortress. The arena will feature 20 fully equipped computers with all the peripherals and the ability to stream to overhead TVs so parents will be able to watch their children compete. “That’s actually really important to me, that parents can be involved,” she noted.

Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to get the kids out of the house – though with practice at least once a week and competitions on Saturdays, there is an expectation that kids will treat it with the rigor of any other sport. Rather, Baron hopes to see young people exploring the multitudes of opportunities in gaming, whether it’s collegiate or professional esports, a degree path in gaming, or in a future career. All of those come with barriers – and it is removing those barriers that she hopes to look back on many years from now.

“Success for me would be if kids were coming to this arena to participate in XP League knowing that the work they do here will take them further in life.”