Growing my program

Matthew Taylor — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 14:35:19 GMT

Making Esports accessible to students on my campus has been the most fun part of building Esports as retention program rather than Recruitment or Athletics focused. My students are all students first, however a large portion of my campus enjoys playing video games in their off-time. Using the Esports Arena as a place for students to de-stress after an exam, build community and friendships, as well as get that competition itch scratched from the comfort of a computer chair has been very successful.
This page will hopefully be short-form essays about individual successes and failures I’ve had as a Head Coach of my program. Last fall my men’s volleyball coach recognized that many of his students were gamers. I sent out an email during the two weeks before athletes arrived on campus to all of the head coaches in the athletics department. Volleyball reached out and we organized a game night in the arena.
Skip forward to this summer, I noticed the Volleyball guys were back and all playing Valorant. So I spoke with their head coach and asked for permission to play Valorant for the school this fall. I mentioned the time commitment would only be Tuesday nights from 8–10 and that it would be a great team-building enviornment for his athletes. He agreed and now I have a “LIU Volleyball” Valorant roster, 6 more athletes on my roster, and the team could not be more excited for their match this Tuesday.

Having this kind of communication has been crucial for spreading the program wider each year. Thank you for reading and would love to hear your thoughts. Connect with me on Twitter - Matthew Taylor.

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Growing my program