USO Gaming and SNHU eSports Face Off at the Community Cup

Playing video games with friends brings entertainment and excitement, but the energy level dials up when it comes to tournament play. At a recent virtual gaming competition hosted by the USO and Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), the SNHU eSports team battled the United States Army eSports team in Valorant and Overwatch, before competing against U.S. service members globally in Rocket League for the first ever SNHU Community Cup.

SNHU has been an official education partner of the USO since 2016, with the shared mission of creating affordable, flexible, and career-focused degree pathways for service members and military spouses. With online and campus-based programs, SNHU offers service members and their spouses the opportunity to pursue their degree on their own time, which is essential for military families with their demanding and sometimes unpredictable schedules.

SNHU supports the continued expansion of the USO Gaming program, which delivered more than 1 million moments of support to service members and their families in 2025. In addition to co-hosting the gaming tournament, SNHU sponsors the gaming center at USO Fort Campbell, where service members can relax, recharge, and connect with friends and family through gaming.

The U.S. Army eSports Team is a competitive gaming team designed to connect service members from the U.S. Army and the Army Reserves with younger people and show them a different side of our service members. As one of the first universities in New England to offer competitive eSports, the SNHU eSports team competes in local, regional, and national competitions for League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, Valorant, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Together, the USO and SNHU brought together these two teams and service members around the world in a series of friendly competitions.

The event kicked off with Overwatch, featuring U.S. Army eSports versus SNHU eSports. Overwatch is a team-based shooter game where players pick heroes with unique abilities and work together to capture points, escort objectives, or push payloads to win. Teamwork and strategy are key. Gameplay moved rapidly, and SNHU’s team prevailed in all three rounds.

Next up was Valorant, which is another shooter game with one team attacking by planting a bomb, while the other team defends to stop them. Players choose “agents,” each with unique abilities, and success relies on strategy, teamwork, precise shooting, and effective use of abilities. The SNHU and U.S. Army teams traded wins across a few rounds, but SNHU took the final victory.

Following the Overwatch and Valorant competitions, the tournament opened up to all U.S. service members across the globe in the first-ever SNHU Community Cup featuring Rocket League. Players were grouped in pairs to face off against SNHU eSports in 2v2 matches in the soccer-style game where players control rocket-powered cars to score goals. One SNHU team pulled off a dramatic win—scoring a goal with just one second left on the clock. The U.S. Army players were still winners, earning USO/SNHU Prize Packs alongside several service member and veteran participants who made the top ten.

SNHU senior Ethan Carlton leads the SNHU varsity eSports team as its Valorant captain, having joined the team in his sophomore year. The tournament was his first time competing with a military-based eSports team, rather than one composed of college students.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Ethan said. “With other college students, you know that they’re going to be at a certain level. We didn’t know what we would be walking into, and we thought that maybe they wouldn’t be as prepared or as well coordinated.”

Ethan discovered that the Army team had some unexpected moves of their own.

“There were times when they pulled something on us, and we said, ‘What just happened?’ It seemed like they had a lot of fun playing together, a lot of experience, and a lot of communication like we do on the college teams.”

More Than a Game: Creating Wellness and Connection

USO Gaming goes far beyond the gaming equipment the USO provides. It includes in-person and virtual communities built around a love of gaming and the social and emotional benefits it brings. The USO makes this possible virtually any time of day and nearly anywhere — from local USO Centers to remote and deployed environments around the world. Participants take part in tournaments, leagues, community events and family nights, and they can join their fellow service members during their downtime for some friendly competition and camaraderie.

Studies have shown that gaming is a positive way to release stress, which is critical for the people who serve our nation day in and day out, often in remote locations and high-intensity environments. When your mind intently focuses on a single activity, it quiets your other thoughts. Being fully present in the moment can lead to a “flow state,” much like meditation, which has clearly been shown to reduce stress and lessen anxiety.

Online gaming can also build connections outside of the military and bridge the gap between civilians and the people who serve.

Ethan expressed his interest in playing with service members again.

“After this competition, I think I’d be more likely to talk to a service member at an in-person competition knowing that we have this in common.”

Through USO Gaming and events like the SNHU Community Cup, service members can connect with peers, stay close to loved ones across the miles and find much-needed stress relief. Together, these benefits make gaming a powerful tool for improving the social and emotional well-being of our service members. To all our active-duty service members and reservists, we say, “Game on!”

For more information on SNHU’s education pathways and the military student experience, visit snhu.edu/military.