Sitting back in his chair, senior Shayne Howell powers on his Playstation 4, waiting to connect to his three teammates who are scattered across the U.S. and Canada.

While most students play video games like “Call of Duty” for fun, Howell spends his time practicing for professional competitions, where his team plays for monetary prizes up to $3,000.  The team is sponsored by organizations such as DashThreads and Cinch Gaming, who provide them with several perks, such as discount codes and covering their travel expenses and entrance fees to online and local area network competitions.

Howell was first introduced to his team over Twitter.

“I reached out to a couple teams asking if I could try out,” Howell said. “I got a couple callbacks and tried out for a couple teams I liked, and there was this one team that I liked — I liked the people who were in it — and I just went with them.”

Despite the distance, Mathew Tate, Howell’s teammate from Uxbridge, Canada, said he views Howell as more than just a fellow player.

“We’re great friends even outside of gaming, and [we] talk to each other all the time, but if it were my choice, playing side by side would make things easier,” Tate said via email.

Moving forward, both Howell and Tate said they would like to pursue a professional gaming career.

“Like professional sports, it’s very hard to find your way,” Tate said. ”There are so many teens who you’re competing with to find a spot on a professional team with a salary.”

According to Howell, competitive esports require a comparable amount of time, skill and practice to conventional sports.

“We practice four to five hours a day,” Howell said. “This is our off season you could say, but as soon as the game starts back up, it’s back on the grind.”

Despite this, Howell said professional gaming is not taken as seriously as it should be.

“Some people see this as just a game I play with my buddies,” Howell said. “But personally, I take it as a job because this is what I’m passionate about.”