The Esports Club ventured outside last Saturday to touch some grass. Although their niche usually keeps them playing indoors, the Touch Grass Initiative brought them to LaFarm to play games, meet people and connect with nature in person.
“It’s an online meme that … people who play video games don’t go outside,” Samantha Natividad ‘25, president of the Esports Club, said. “In a way, we’re making fun of ourselves, but it’s in a way that’s bonding.”
Natividad also serves as the president of Lafayette Food and Farm Cooperative.
On Saturday, the group participated in various activities at LaFarm such as hide and seek, red light, green light and flower bouquet-making. Prior to attending the Touch Grass Initiative, many Esports Club members had only communicated online through video games and Discord.
“I got to meet all the League of Legends players and I’d never seen them face to face, didn’t even know what they look like … And they’re great friends of ours now,” Andrew King ‘25, general assistant of the Esports Club, said.
Last year, Esports hosted a similar event, allowing their members to meet each other in person and contribute to LaFarm.
“The one last year … we kind of shaped the games around helping out LaFarm, so we had the wheelbarrow race where we would race and see who got to put fertilizer down and fill up a whole row first .. and we would harvest and see who got the most produce in their baskets,” Natividad said. “We [were] gonna do the same this year, but sadly Farmer Josh sprained his ankle the morning of, so we couldn’t and we just kind of made up our own stuff on the way.”
The event led students to branch out to new communities. Since the event, many members of the Esports community are now interested in joining the Food and Farm Cooperative. Similarly, many Food and Farm Cooperative students were introduced to the Esports Club.
“A lot of the people that came yesterday were actually freshmen and they’re like, ‘Oh you can volunteer here? I want to do that.’ So I’ve invited them to the GroupMe,” Natividad said. “It’s two things that I really, really like coming together, just makes me really happy.”
Although the Touch Grass Initiative is over for this semester, the group hopes to continue to hold future events in person and at LaFarm.
“I’m hoping that we get more people to come out. I know sometimes it’s hard with schedules … and it’s good to get outside once in a while,” King said. “Even though we’re the Esports Club, it should be more than just video games.”
