Missouri Western State University is a public university located in Saint Joseph, Missouri. After months of careful planning and deliberation, they officially launched their esports program on January 1, 2020. One of the most compelling things about the program's fruition is the tremendous involvement of the students. As soon as the University announced their plans on having an esports program, they received a surge of support and interest from the student body, sending them passionate essays about why their game needs to be represented. Which made it easier to choose which game they want to compete in.

Currently, the program is under Strategic Initiatives with the likelihood of moving to athletics or student affairs. Competitively, the program has teams for League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, and Fortnite. They're planning to compete in these conferences: NACE, TESPA, CSL, and PlayVS. Plans are in place to compete in more games. They made it easier for students to form official clubs and special interests for other games and see if they can develop them into a varsity team.

In this episode, Christian Konczal, Esports Director/Head Coach at Missouri Western State University talks to us about the foundation of their esports program, their inclusivity ethos, and their promising future direction.

Connect with Missouri Western State University:

University Website: https://www.missouriwestern.edu/

Club Website: https://www.missouriwestern.edu/esports/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/griffonesports/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/griffonesports

Games we play/compete in:

League of Legends

Overwatch

Rocket League

Fortnite

and more…

Connect with us:

Official webpage:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/esport-supply/