Club esports team created at USU
“Hearthstone,” “Rocket League,” “Heroes of The Storm,” “Overwatch” and “League of Legends” are just a handful of the games that the Utah State University Esports team competes in.
The club has been organized this semester by putting together games against other schools and hosting show matches.
The Esports team as a whole has many members, but each individual games has teams of about 3-6 people. They even have a coach for their “League of Legends” team.
Regis Dudley, sports psychology major, is the head coach of the “League of Legends” team. Dudley was a player last year but this year is taking on a bigger role. Dudley’s background in coaching has allowed him to help the esports team.
“Overall teaching them how to be better at a game is no different than teaching them to be better at a traditional sport. A lot of the coaching that I do is like fundamental tutoring,” Dudley said. “I teach them the basics of the game then I focus a lot of my time on teaching them how to be a team. I try my best to foster an environment of competitive atmosphere than rather micromanaging.”
Video games have been seen more as a form of recreation than a professional sport, but that is quickly changing.
Keaton Manwaring, attack damage carry for the “League of Legends” team, played the game recreationally before joining the team. Now it is a lot more serious for him.
“I like it because there is a lot of strategy to it. I can play really aggressive and get into people’s face. There is a ton of strategy behind it and you can always get better at the game,” Manwaring said.
The team hosts practices for three hours three different times a week. Then, they hold a match against another school at least once a week. Factor in time playing alone, and that’s a lot of hours playing video games. For the players, they have worked to keep the balance between the game and their school work.
“I play probably 20-25 hours a week. I have to be really efficient with my time as a student. I have to be on top of my homework at all times. There is a lot of stuff, but it’s all about balance,” Manwaring said.
All this time spent playing prepares the team to face off with other schools. According to the team some of the nation’s biggest threats are right here in Utah.
“The biggest Esports community in Utah is at the University of Utah. They have started letting students major in game design so that gets a lot of people. In years before, they were one of the best teams in the country for ‘League of Legends,’” said Jessica Adamson, communications and PR officer.
Spencer White, member of the USU eSports team, plays League of Legends, the team’s premier game
The team practices against other surrounding schools like Weber State. They also said one of their biggest rivals is Brigham Young University. They play them once a year and always try to beat them.
“Competing against other schools is really fun. I love competition so I am always trying to get better. When competing, you can show off how good you actually are,” Manwaring said.
2018 has seen rise in people getting payed to stream themselves playing video games on platforms like Twitch and Beam. They stream everything from “Fortnite” to “Halo.” They make money from sponsors and tournaments. Manwaring commented that this is something unique to our generation.
“I think it’s really cool to have people play games and make money. I dream about becoming one of them, but having a balance is important,” Manwaring said. “There is very few people that make it. You either have to be incredibly good at the game or have a good personality. A combo of those two is where people are making a lot of money.”
The USU Esports team plans on continuing to grow its presence on campus with more events and tryouts in the future. The team recently hosted a “League of Legends” show match in the Taggart Student Center and were pleasantly surprised with the support that they received.
“I was surprised how nice the crowd was at our last event. They got super into it. I know we are going to plan more of that. Most teams are just working on performing the best we can. This year we have the university’s official support and they want results out of us. We are just doing the best we can to do well and represent the university,” Adamson said.
For more information on the USU Esports team check their official Facebook page.
—shelby.black@aggiemail.usu.edu
@shelbsterblack