I pride myself on being an avid gamer and live to break stereotypes about women within gaming. Being a girl who likes games is filled with lots of explaining why you aren't a magical unicorn and instead just a regular human, but we get through it.

I guess this explains why I've never had much interest in the world of organized video game competitions. Adding one more level of nerd knowledge just felt like a plunge too deep and in spite of my desire to be knowledgable AF, it didn't feel worth it.

While I've always known about eSports and have had friends that have competed on the professional level, I've never had much of an interest in watching someone else play a game. Except maybe my boyfriend, but only because I am a die hard backseat driver.

All of this this was true until recently when I was introduced to the world of eSports through my current most played title, Overwatch. Overwatch is a game built for just about anyone who enjoys a first person shooter and seems to really bridge the gap between game demographics. The friends I have who play Overwatch range from young to old, male to female, casual gamer to hardcore.

I think this wide collection that makes up the fandom is what made it so easy for me to feel comfortable stepping foot into the world of eSports, at least within the Overwatch community. The experience is even better because the video game developer who created Overwatch, Blizzard Ent., has officially launched the Overwatch League.

You know the NBA, the NFL, the MLB. Well now we have the OWL. The league is comprised of 12 teams and the rosters are made up of some of the top Overwatch players in the world. With Blizzard taking the reigns and crafting an experience that lets you root for your home team (I'm a New York Excelsior fan, surprise surprise), follow streamers you love and genuinely feel like a contributor to the eSports community.

Watching Overwatch competitively has proved beneficial for me for quite a few reasons:

- Watching pros play my favorite game has actually provided me with a ton of awesome tips and tricks that I can apply to my own gameplay.

- I have found some hilarious streamers that keep me entertained and make me feel confident in knowing that even the pros have bad streaks.

- I've finally been compelled to stream my own gameplay, something I probably would've been terrified to do without this introduction to the community.

By embracing eSports and actually letting myself learn more about the world that surround it, I have found a whole new way to explore one of my biggest passions! If you don't know about eSports or don't really play video games, don't count yourself out. Not only is it super fun, but it's also a growing industry with a ton of job opportunities and some serious money to be made. So get out there and check it out!