This week, we engage with a flurry of activists fighting the good fight for esports in the Vancouver, British Columbia area. I found them while I was watching the mini-documentary, "Smash Forward" (link below) from the group STORYHIVE (@Storyhive on Twitter!). Hearing how they're already reaching well beyond campus to participate and build their esports offerings is inspiring. These are the engagement levels that every college will aspire to have with all of their major clubs, not just esports. 

Give them a listen and cheer them on as they've got a full year ahead of them for what was planned, not including all of those special moments of random living life and directing hundreds of students' passion in gaming to see how things will change :). GLHF and enjoy the podcast!

 Participants:

UBC Social Media

Musical Guest, go give them some love right now(!!!), Runestrike 

"Smash Forward" documentary by STORYHIVE:

Be sure to check me out on social media and leave feedback there or on the Anchor platform to be integrated into the podcast:

Support the Podcast with a donation:

This week I got to sync up with John and Marco as they prepare for Season 2 of CollegeCOD (Call of Duty for the uninitiated). We go through the efforts and passion it has taken to get this far; speaking so highly of every community member, every team member and every school. The 'P' word comes out a lot in this episode. If I had to describe this whole idea of CollegeCOD, it would be as most elaborate passion project I have ever heard of in the esports space. John and Marco have their hands full building a proper collegiate scene with the community mindset that drives the most successful scenes. Listen in to hear some of the initial announcements for Season 2!

Guest #1: John

https://twitter.com/JPROSP8 

Guest #2: Marco

https://twitter.com/zSmgl 

CollegeCOD:

https://twitter.com/CollegeCod 

discord.gg/UDJStkE 

Musical Guest: TH!S

Song: Sleeper Cell

https://www.thisedm.com/ 

https://twitter.com/ReptusSanctus 

Episode 059 - Part 1 - Longevity & Challenges

This is a long time coming and I can only apologize and thank my guests for their patience. It has been a long road to get this underway, executed on, rehashed, rebuilt, restarted and all of the other re's out there. 

In part one, my guests and I talk about longevity and where it stems from. We're also so new at this, along with the colleges themselves that no one had really recognized the impact of a passionate individual who drives everything and we get to hear some nifty stories.

Participants:

Written Transcription:

Be sure to check me out on social media and leave feedback there or on the Anchor platform to be integrated into the podcast:

Support the Podcast with a donation:

Episode 058 - Boise State Esports - NACE Convention & Overwatch

First, apologies for the audio. There was a smattering of technical difficulties and time was not in my favor this time around. Look for more clips on social media to track down some more nuggets from Boise State players!

Secondly, GO BSU! GLHF at the convention! 

Follow BSU Esports on social media:

Thanks to Jantzen (@jantzenTZ) and Kim Michelle (@kim8michelle) for their wonderful song, "Make Music"

This week I spoke with Will Hershey from Roundhill Investments. We had a great discussion about Will's involvement with the Esports ETF (labeled NERD:  https://roundhillinvestments.com/nerd-index ). We broke down perspectives of who and what is driving investments as well as the current state of esports and some of the problems team, products and businesses are facing when getting into esports.

 Guest: Will Hershey

 https://twitter.com/maybebullish 

 https://roundhillinvestments.com/ 

Musical Guest: Ampholyte

Song: A Legend Echoes

https://ampholyte.bandcamp.com 

https://twitter.com/Ampholyte9 

Recorded nice and early for this one! I interviewed UK-based Hitmarker's Managing Director, Richard Huggan. We got a chance to talk about the origin of Hitmarker as a job board, how he found his way into it and the tremendous growth it is playing within the job market for esports; professional, collegiate and volunter-based. 

This is my first podcast around the business-side of esports and there's even more to learn. I'm driven to understand how they'll impact esports from the big wigs of C9, Team Liquid, Overwatch League, NBA 2k and all the way down to primary K-12 education esports. 

Hitmarker:

 https://hitmarkerjobs.com/ 

 https://www.linkedin.com/company/hitmarkerjobs/about/ 

 https://www.facebook.com/HitmarkerJobs 

 https://www.instagram.com/HitmarkerJobs/ 

Richard Huggan:

 https://twitter.com/RichardHuggan 

Musical Guest: Ampholyte

Song: 2688

 https://ampholyte.bandcamp.com 

 https://twitter.com/Ampholyte9 

 OU's Moog second name drop on Twitter brought me to Eugene Frier of Texas Wesleyan University. Probably the smallest school I've talked to  but with an attitude for esports as some of the major contenders. Eugene and I speak towards what it means to be building an esports program, a community  and even get our nerd on reminiscing about vanilla World of Warcraft. 

This podcast goes on to prove that anyone and everyone can be involved in esports and it is to the benefit of schools, professional esports and the professional growth of students. Give it a listen and share your feedback!

Texas Wesleyan University Esports

 https://twitter.com/txwes_esports 

 https://txwes.edu/ 

Musical Guest: Turbo Vice

Song: Summer Nights

 https://twitter.com/TurboVice 

 https://turbovice.bandcamp.com/ 

OU's Moog name dropped some clubs and people on Twitter so I tracked some of them down and got another great episode that further explores how much collegiate esports has grown in just a year. UTD status, resources and approval on campus is reminiscent of many other programs'. Greg Adler, Director and Coach for UTD's program fills me in and helps paint the picture of an esports contender. 

University of Texas at Dallas

 https://twitter.com/utdesports 

 discord.gg/utdesports  

 utdesports.com 

 instagr.am/utdesports

Musical Guest: Azata

 https://twitter.com/Azata_music 

 https://soundcloud.com/azatamusic/tracks 

This week, seemingly starting a trend for Rainbow 6 episodes, I interview the admin of Collegiate R6, Mike 'xpR' Pipher. We cover the history, the tremendous growth of Collegiate R6 and where it is going. It is great to be able to hear about the processes and challenges of handling the collegiate scene but also amazingly inspiring to hear how many people, including the players, are striving to organize and give this scene the same legitimacy that professional esports had searched for for years.  Enjoy this podcast! I hope it gets you all as fired up as I am for the Fall 2019 Season of CR6. 

For Collegiate Rainbow 6 news, competition and community: 

For more collegiate esports news and coverage, head on over to the Collegiate Esports Network:

Cristian and I dive into his history at getting into esports, R6 and his move from participant to caster to analyst for Dark Zero Esports. This is another great story of what dedication, hard work and a commitment to growing can do for you. We also discuss the Texas A&M's performance in the finals for the Spring Collegiate R6 championship.

Follow Cristian on social media:  

Check out Dark Zero Esports:

For Collegiate Rainbow 6 news, competition and community: 

For more collegiate esports news and coverage, head on over to the Collegiate Esports Network: