#TornadoNation: CEG Interviews CTX Austin Esports Director and Athletes

As a proud sponsor of Concordia University Texas’s esports team, we’re excited to have the chance to interview their director, Marc Valdoria, as well as some of the student athletes about their experiences.

Team updates can be viewed on their Twitter and streams can be watched on their Twitch channel.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us on your collegiate esports program. How long has your university had a varsity esports program and how long have you been the director of the program?

I have been Concordia’s esports coordinator/director since the program started.Concordia launched the esports program in Fall 2019, and we were the first varsity esports program in Central Texas.

Is it fair to say you are also the program’s coach? Or do you have paid coaches at your school too?

That is fair to say that I’m the program’s “head coach.” In the future, as we expand, the goal is to have paid coaches per team. As of now, I can coach/manage some of the teams. However, I rely a lot on our players, who have a lot of knowledge of the game and have exemplified leadership characteristics. It has been working for the past couple of years as it helps me manage my workload by giving our students opportunities to earn experience in a leadership position within their teams.

How did you get involved with the esports program? Were you already at the university in a different role when you became the director and helped develop the program?

I got involved with the esports program while working in the marketing department at Concordia. Our Athletic Director looked for help starting the program within our university, and I stepped up to the plate because I love esports and I am extremely passionate about it.

Which games do you compete in, about how many athletes do you have per team and how many athletes do you have overall?

We compete in Apex, League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Super Smash Ultimate, and Chess. Overall, we have over 40+ student athletes in the program.

How’s the season going by the way?

Our Spring season has come to a wrap, and I couldn’t have been more proud of how hard our athletes played this year. We got back from our SCAC Conference Showdown in San Antonio last week where our program took 2nd overall.

As director, I’m sure recruiting is a big part of what you do as you have so many different games you compete in. I’m sure our audience would want to know what is involved in recruiting. How do you find your athletes and about how many do you recruit per year?

We find our athletes in various ways, such as social media, online/LAN high school esports tournaments, Discord, Next College Student Athlete (NCSA), and in-person events.

Is there a good high school esports ecosystem that you can draw from? Or do the athletes actively reach out to you with their game play portfolio or do you reach out to them?

Some student-athletes reach out to me directly, which is typically a rare case. However, there are some ecosystems that I can think of, such as the Discord servers like High School Esports League (HSEL), eFuse, SPIN Collegiate, etc., which are great because they have a lot of high school students who are looking for collegiate teams. At the same time, there are organizations such as Texas Scholastic Esports Federation (TexSEF) that put on recruiting events, which there is one that is about to happen at the end of the month (April 28-29th) at the Esports Stadium Arlington.

Is there anything in particular that you look for in their game play?

When we recruit students, we look at a variety of things, such as their rank and history of the game. However, we also gauge their approach to the game and their attitude. We want players who are motivated to improve, willing to listen, and ready to adapt to the team. If they have those qualities, they have a high potential to be a high-impact player in our program. A player could be a highly skilled/ranked player, but if they have a bad attitude and are toxic, they would not fit in well with our program.

Another aspect that I’m sure our audience will be interested to know: Do your athletes receive partial or full scholarships or any other benefits from the university?

We currently have partial scholarships for our program. Our esports student-athletes could qualify for the esports scholarship ($2,000/year). This scholarship can also stack with our other scholarship offerings at Concordia. The additional benefit they have is exclusive access to our esports facility, which only esports players and members can use.

What are some of the bigger challenges confronting your esports program today? What about esports in general?

One of the biggest challenges confronting our esports program (and a lot of esports programs across the nation) is that budget is limited. We would love to be able to send teams across the state/country to compete with other collegiate teams, but we simply do not have the budget to do so. At the same time, having a constraint on budget means that upgrades and arena expansion would also be affected, which in turn can affect recruitment down the line.

That’s about it for our questions and thank you for your time. Final thoughts: Do you have anything else to add that you would like for our gaming audience to know about your program and or collegiate esports?

Esports is a lot more accessible than people think! Collegiate esports has gained significant popularity, with more colleges and universities offering programs and scholarships for athletes. This is a great opportunity for students who are passionate about gaming to pursue their interests while also earning a degree.

Hi there and thank you for taking the time out of your busy school and esports schedule to talk to us about your collegiate esports experience. What year are you and in which games do you compete?

I am a junior and I play Rocket League.

How has the esports athletic experience been so far?

The experience has been great, I like winning and we win a lot so it’s enjoyable.

Be honest: How many hours a week do you say you practice and compete?

3-5 hours, mostly solo training because I am weird like that.

What are your training methods and how do you get ready for tournaments? Do you study streams of your competition?

I play a few casual or comp games or sit in solo training, whatever I feel like. No I don’t like to review footage because I review the game in my head.

When’s the competition season, is it in the spring or fall or both?

For SCAC (“Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference”), spring, but NACE (“National Association of Collegiate Esports“) Starleague is both fall and spring.

How are you doing so far this year?

We finished 2nd in SCAC and went to playoffs in NACE.

Let’s go back to before you started your collegiate athletic career. When did you first start gaming?

I started gaming when I was as young as I can remember, but I didn’t start playing Rocket League until 2015, when it came out of course.

At what point did you realize “hey I can do this in college”?

After playing a few matches with the team during tryouts.

What was the recruiting process like at your university? Did the director reach out to you or did you actively approach them?

I saw a flyer in my school email and I decided to give it a shot.

Has doing esports changed the way you play games in your free time?

Esports has made me play rocket league more, but that’s about the only change.

That’s about it and let’s wrap it up with one final question: Think back to when you were gaming before college and compare that to what you know now after being a college esports athlete. What words of advice or tips would you give high schoolers to help them land a spot on a collegiate esports team?

I would say to just keep playing your game in the highest rank possible so you can get better every game you play, and research + practice just as much time as you play

Hi there and thank you for taking the time out of your busy school and esports schedule to talk to us about your collegiate esports experience. What year are you and in which games do you compete?

I am a Junior at Concordia (TX) and compete in Valorant. The Valorant team is new as it was created and started to compete this semester.

How has the esports athletic experience been so far?

The start of the season was unpredictable with a rotating starting lineup. However, it felt great when the team was solidified and we melded together.

Be honest: How many hours a week do you say you practice and compete?

Valorant practices twice a week for a total of eight hours. With games, the time committed is about 10 hours a week. On top of this, I play outside of practice and stack competitive queues with my teammates. I usually play Valorant in my free time when I finish everything else I have on my schedule.

What are your training methods and how do you get ready for tournaments? Do you study streams of your competition?

I play the tournaments the same as I would during practice. I take it seriously and compete to the best of my abilities. I do not scout the competition; however, a vital aspect of improving video games is VOD reviews. Instead of going over the competition and finding mistakes, I focus on self-improvement.

When’s the competition season, is it in the spring or fall or both?

Concordia’s main Valorant competition is an in-person tournament held every spring. There are other tournaments we take part in but competing in SCAC is our main goal as a team.

How are you doing so far this year?

I am doing great so far! I started playing Valorant 9 months ago and I am currently ascendant three, just 2 games away from immortal.

Let’s go back to before you started your collegiate athletic career. When did you first start gaming?

I first started playing competitive fps after I graduated from middle school. The first game I started playing was Overwatch. I have hit top 500 on support, dps, and tank.

At what point did you realize “hey I can do this in college”?

I realized I could play esports in college when I came to Concordia. I found out that the esports college scene was bigger than I imagine. There are multiple schools around the U.S. that offer huge scholarships for esports.

What was the recruiting process like at your university? Did the director reach out to you or did you actively approach them?

I did not go through the traditional recruiting process at my university. I was already admitted and found out that Concordia had an esports team when I was on a campus tour. After the tour, I reached out to the program director and was offered a scholarship to play esports.

Has doing esports changed the way you play games in your free time?

Esports has changed the way I play games in my free time. Before joining the esports program I used to play video games when I had free time. Now, I have to plan my schedule with dedicated time slots to practice Valorant

That’s about it and let’s wrap it up with one final question: Think back to when you were gaming before college and compare that to what you know now after being a college esports athlete. What words of advice or tips would you give high schoolers to help them land a spot on a collegiate esports team?

My advice to high school students would be not to just mindlessly play video games because that leads to burnout. Play for a few hours with a strong mental with a focus on improvement. Joining a team is also something I would recommend experiencing. Team gameplay is very different from ladder. In team gameplay, it is important to work together. In ladder, it is more about punishing mistakes. VOD reviews are important and vital for improvement.

Hi there and thank you for taking the time out of your busy school and esports schedule to talk to us about your collegiate esports experience. What year are you and in which games do you compete

My name is Nick Reak, I compete in League of Legends and Valorant and I am a Junior.

How has the esports athletic experience been so far?

I have been playing collegiate for about 3 years now, but this was my first semester at a school where we were able to field a full roster for either of the games I play. I would say the experience was fun, but my hope is that there will be more support from schools in the future as it still feels like we are outcasts rather than athletes.

Be honest: How many hours a week do you say you practice and compete?

For team practice and competition it is usually about 15-20 hours with both teams combined, and for individual practice I spend another 15-20 hours a week.

What are your training methods and how do you get ready for tournaments? Do you study streams of your competition?

Currently, I don’t spend a lot of time VOD reviewing, most of my preparation comes from watching professional play and videos. Otherwise, I study the drafts of our opponents and attempt to learn their general draft identity to know how to counter or nullify it.

When’s the competition season, is it in the spring or fall or both?

Mainly spring, though we do practice in fall and work on group dynamics and practice.

How are you doing so far this year?

Alright, wish we could have finished higher in the standings, but I am motivated to keep competing. Financially I am struggling because I want to focus on practice and improving and between the long grind hours and school work, actual work becomes hard to fit in.

Let’s go back to before you started your collegiate athletic career. When did you first start gaming?

I started gaming when I was about 5-6, it was casually on PlayStation 1, and over the years I started competing in high school back around 2009 in Halo.

At what point did you realize “hey I can do this in college”?

I realized I could compete in college and go back to school when the coach from NMU reached out to recruit me in 2020.

What was the recruiting process like at your university? Did the director reach out to you or did you actively approach them?

I reached out to Marc our director, I was already at another school in Kentucky at the time, and I really wanted a school that would compete. After talking to Marc I decided on CTX.

Has doing esports changed the way you play games in your free time?

Not really, I am hyper competitive and all it has done is reinforce the drive to compete and win.

That’s about it and let’s wrap it up with one final question: Think back to when you were gaming before college and compare that to what you know now after being a college esports athlete. What words of advice or tips would you give high schoolers to help them land a spot on a collegiate esports team?

Start playing team sports, you need to be able to play with others. I was already someone who had a traditional sports background, but the number of players that stunt the competitive nature of a program due to not knowing how to be teammates is massive. So learn to play with teams, and learn to be a active member who strives to improve with those around them.