Science meets sports as kids build, fly aircraft for drone soccer in Modesto. Wanna try?
Students stood outside the cage, waiting for their match to start, anticipating the signal from the camp instructor.
It was a relaxing, entertaining ending to a week of hard work at one of the U.S. Drone Soccer camp sessions brought to Modesto Junior College’s West Campus through a partnership between MJC’s Lifelong Learning Division and Modesto City Schools.
The group of 10 middle school students, split into two teams of five on opposite sides of a net, stood with controllers in hand, laser-focused on the drones they built. The aircraft sat in a line on the ground, ready to be flown.
One of the campers was Diego Hernandez-Juarez, a 15-year-old who attended every drone soccer camp offered through the partnership.
He stood next to his brother, Moises, as the two protected their hanging goal from the opposing team’s striker drone.
The striker drone is the only one allowed to cross the goal post, scoring points for its team. The other drones serve as defenders whose job is to keep the striker from crossing into the goal.
“It’s been pretty cool,” Diego Hernandez-Juarez said. “... It’s different and kind of stressful to build it, but today, it was nice to be here to fly it.”
The camp, with upcoming sessions open to the public, makes MJC the first known site for drone soccer in California.
“We have this opportunity to partner with city schools and to bring in young future students and help them find opportunities that they may not have seen otherwise.” said MJC Interim Vice President of Instruction Brian Sanders.
Three weeklong camp sessions were held through the MJC-MCS partnership. Students were on MJC’s West Campus for about three hours a day. During that time, they learned to assemble a drone, troubleshoot and program the way the drone flies and, in the final days of the week, learn to fly it.
Each week ended with games of drone soccer, which was created in South Korea and is a quickly growing e-sport in the United States and around the world.
“It’s the perfect combination,” said Angela Vizcarra, MJC’s interim contract and program manager for Community Lifelong Learning. “A really cool, attractive e-sport in a neat package, and then a ton of knowledge that goes with it.”
The June partnership between Modesto City Schools and MJC’s Lifelong Learning Division helped demonstrate the demand for the camp, which is for students ages 12-17.
Openings are still available for these summer dates:
July 11-July 15, 1:15 p.m.-5 p.m.
July 18-July 22, 9 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
July 25-July 29, 9 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
Those interested can sign up online at www.mjc4life.org or call 209-575-6063.
Impact on students
Students arrived at MJC’s West Campus in the afternoon for the camp’s first four days, but Friday’s drone soccer games started at 9 a.m. Modesto City Schools Director of Student Support Services Tony Lomeli said he saw the impact the camp had on the students and how it continued to bring them back.
Drone soccer usually attracts the more quiet students, but during the games, they let it out. There were cheers of joy after sending the striker through the goal, and groans of disappointment when a drone battery had to be replaced at the end of its three-minute life span.
Students assist each other in turning on controllers, arming and operating drones as they navigate the predetermined “flying zone, which can measure up to 65 by 32 feet, according to the World Air Sports Federation website.
E-sports is one of the fastest-growing sports disciplines in the world, and drone soccer now is an official international sport of the World Air Sports Federation.
One of the reasons e-sports and drone soccer are gaining popularity is because of how inclusive they are. “Any kids that are 12 and up can learn can do this,” Vizcarra said. “A child could be in a wheelchair and participate. This is actually something awesome for autistic students who are on the spectrum because there’s minimal physical contact a lot of times. So they can compete and be part of a team.”
Opportunities for the future
While drone soccer provided a fun activity to reward campers for their hard work all week, learning about drones was a large part of the students’ experience.
“We’re dealing with junior highers, and that is a really influential age,” said camp instructor Dylan Hoyt. “Getting involved with activities like this (teaches) you skills, cognitive memory, assembling skills for engineering and practical skills that can actually influence kids maybe even at the subconscious or meta-cognitive level.”
As technology continues to evolve, drones are becoming more common in how the world operates, and this type of education could lead to careers in the future, Hoyt said.
“It’s a very inclusive activity that also leads to a pathway for occupations, because drones are exploding,” added Vizcarra. “Amazon is (testing) delivering by drones. Drones are used in agriculture, real estate, film production, weddings, search and rescue and public safety. There’s all sorts of applications for drones and they’re growing every day.”
Said Sanders, “When we were kids, we didn’t know that being a drone pilot was a possible career that’s kind of fun, and it’s similar to video games. This is also a new e-sport, so it’s something that kids of all abilities can participate in, which is fantastic.”
