October 3, 2025 • 23 mins
When we think of college sports, we imagine football scholarships and packed stadiums. But what if you're a competitor who crushes it at Mario Kart or would rather watch Fortnite streams for fun?
We've got you covered.
This week, Dr. Ross and student producer Ashley Worley explore the realm of Esports with Kenna Rivers, UT Tyler's team captain for Rainbow Six Siege. As an avid gamer and junior Nursing major, Kenna reveals the ways Esports can transform a student's college experience for the better, helping them develop teamwork, leadership, and practical career skills in a fun environment. For casual or new players in the crowd, she shares how the Esports lab's resources create opportunities to have fun with friends, build community, and even win prize money. Whoever you are and however you enjoy gaming, Esports has something for you.
Have more questions about Esports in college life? Email us at ADRquestions@gmail.com or leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you!
Watch UT Tyler Esports live on Twitch and follow their socials here: https://linktr.ee/esportsUTT
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr.
Ross Podcast.
It's created to give you info tosucceed at college.
Our hosts are highly qualified.
Dr.
Katherine Ross is a member ofthe University of Texas Systems
Academy of DistinguishedTeachers.
She's also a popular professorof 19th century English
literature.
Ask Dr.
(00:24):
Ross is a community service ofthe University of Texas at
Tyler.
SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
Welcome to another episode of Ask Dr.
Ross.
Today, even though we've heard alot about athletics at
universities, we want to talkwith someone who can tell us a
little bit about esports, andthat is Miss Kenna Rivers, who
is a junior here at UT Tyler.
She's a nursing student.
And we understand that you knowa whole lot about esports at UT
(00:52):
Tyler and are even competing.
Why don't you tell us when didyou start getting involved in
esports?
Probably what, when you were alittle kid?
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
Yeah, so esports itself is more like competitive.
So I got into video games veryyoung.
My brothers played video games.
I wanted to play video games.
I think the first video game Iever saw my brother playing was
I think it was Left 4 Dead 2.
That was a zombie game.
There's not an esports versionof it, but that was a fun game
for me, and I told my mom, yeah,I want an Xbox.
(01:22):
And the rest is history.
SPEAKER_03 (01:24):
Pretty much.
There we go.
So now when you say esports,that's actually competitive.
So you gotta tell us about that,because I don't know how many
people are that familiar withthis wonderful new world of
sporting.
SPEAKER_02 (01:37):
It depends on the game.
Like some games are likecompetitive in their own nature,
but then you have games thatkind of go to that next level.
So the team that I currently amthe captain for is Rainbow Six
Siege, and that's a very Whoawhoa.
SPEAKER_03 (01:49):
What's the name of it again?
SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
Rainbow Six Siege.
As in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.
SPEAKER_03 (01:54):
Okay, and what kind of a game is it?
SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
It's a tactical FPS shooter.
FPS means first person.
It's really big on like how areyou gonna go about this round?
How are you gonna attack thisround or defend it?
Is it strategies then?
Very, very strat The match willstart and you'll start with
banning an operator.
So each side gets to pick anoperator they can ban.
And they're adding new operatorsevery year, but each operator
(02:16):
has their own unique abilitiesthat they can bring to that
match.
So on defense, there'scharacters.
One goes by the name of Bandit.
He's a year one operator, Ibelieve.
And his gadget is an electrifiedcar battery that can electrify a
wall.
And you'd think, okay, well,that's cool.
So what is that, what's thepoint in that?
But if you pair that withsomebody who has like good
(02:36):
synergy, like a new operatorthat just got added is tuberao,
he can freeze gadgets andplayers.
You can have people on attackwho have to, let's say, breach
that wall.
So you really have to thinkabout what is the other team
doing?
What is my team going to do tobeat that team on their map?
SPEAKER_03 (02:54):
And since these are folks that are competing across
campuses, you all been playingthis for years and you've got
this all doped out way ahead oftime.
SPEAKER_02 (03:01):
Yes.
You have to know things likecall-outs or like where they are
on the map, and then also whatthis operator does and so on.
It's confusing, but for somepeople it's just like second
nature.
SPEAKER_03 (03:14):
So the one that you enjoy most is more realistic
looking.
It looks like army guys and gunsand Yes, ma'am.
Now, is it pretty violent?
SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
You know, that's a big thing that everybody says is
that video games are violent,but I personally don't think so.
There's always sliders.
So if you prefer not to have theblood, you don't have to have
it.
Sliders is like a setting whereyou can go in and just turn it
off if you don't want to see it.
Most people like to have it onbecause it indicates like, oh,
I've hit them, but I maybe Ididn't down them, but I see the
blood on the wall, so I know Ihit them, and so on.
SPEAKER_03 (03:45):
So now when you're competing, is it you against one
other player or a group ofplayers?
How does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
So it kind of depends on the game that you're
playing.
So for my game specifically,it's 5v5.
So you have five people ondefense and five people on
offense.
SPEAKER_03 (04:02):
And so it's five people from your team and five
people from the other team.
So how do you practice?
SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
There's a couple different things you can do.
For my game specifically,whenever we come up with new
strats, which is like how we'llset up site or how we'll attack,
we'll sometimes we'll do it justthe five of us.
And we'll talk about a strat andwe'll use Discord and we'll pull
up basically like a top-downview of the map.
This is where you're gonna putyour stuff, this is where you're
gonna sit, this is where you'regonna watch.
(04:28):
And then once we feel like wehave it down, then we'll find
other teams to basicallyscrimmage with.
SPEAKER_03 (04:34):
So now let's back up a little bit.
You showed up at UT Tyler andyou were already a gamer.
How did you become an esportsplayer?
SPEAKER_02 (04:43):
Well, I didn't know when I first got here that we
had an esports team, and I wasgetting lunch at Chick-fil-A and
I saw it on the TV that theywere having tryouts for my game
specifically.
And I was like, Oh, I didn'tknow we had an esports team, you
know, might as well go and tryout.
So how do you try out It kind ofdepends on the game and how the
captain wants to run it.
I know when I tried out, I wasat a little bit of a
(05:04):
disadvantage because esports istypically played on PC or a
computer.
And to do that, you had to playon keyboard and mouse.
It's a lot different.
That was the first time I hadever played on keyboard and
mouse was when I tried out forthe team.
So I was really nervous I wasn'tgonna make the team because I
wasn't very good at keyboard andmouse.
I knew it was going on.
I played the game for a longtime.
I just wasn't very good at thecontrols yet.
(05:25):
When we were trying out, theywere looking more for game
sense.
Did you know what was going on?
Do you know what this means whensomebody says that they're top
mez and stuff like that?
SPEAKER_03 (05:33):
Did you make the team the first time?
SPEAKER_02 (05:35):
I did.
I did.
I was a sub player, but that wasokay because I totally knew why.
I just wasn't very good atkeyboard and mouse yet.
So how long did it take you toget good at the keyboard and
mouse?
About two weeks.
Two weeks.
SPEAKER_03 (05:47):
So how many hours a week do you practice?
SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
It really just depends on I played.
We practiced at least once aweek.
So for me, I didn't have acomputer yet, so I'd have to go
to the lab and play.
SPEAKER_03 (05:59):
So the university supplies a space with the
computers.
SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_03 (06:04):
Okay, great.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
So how often I would say about at least once a week.
We'll say at least 10 hours aweek.
And then if we had a game thatweek, probably closer to to
twelve.
SPEAKER_01 (06:16):
I'm curious what you could tell our listeners about
the lab.
I've passed by it every once ina while.
I used to be a tour guide, andso they would tell us to point
at the esports lab, but I neveractually got to go in or know
more about it.
So what is the esports lab andhow did it get started?
SPEAKER_02 (06:33):
I'm not entirely sure how the esports lab
started.
I think it was just, you know,one of those things where it was
getting popular in othercolleges.
The eSport Lab itself, it's gotPCs and monitors and you know
the specs that you can play on.
But it's not just for people whoare on a competitive esports
team.
We have community hours wherethe doors open.
You're more than welcome to comein, play any games that we have
(06:55):
on there, and we have all sortsof games.
We have Minecraft, Apex,Fortnite, anything that you know
you can think of, you can play.
And then of course there's hoursset specifically for esports
teams to practice.
We just got approved for brandnew PCs,$50,000 to go into 10
new PCs.
Wow.
And just to give you like anidea, when I built mine, my PC
(07:17):
is a little bit on the mid tolower end and was about$1,200.
So they get a little expensive,but I think we're looking to
really kind of step it upbecause that has been a big
problem with us is not beingable to compete at the level
that we need to because thespecs on our computers just
aren't there yet.
But I'm not worried about thatcome the fall.
The brand new PCs will be built,so we'll be able to really
(07:38):
compete.
And that means other people cancome in and play as well.
Because that was a problem wherewe would have a PC that would
blue screen and then we'd openup for community hours when we'd
only have a couple PCs that wereavailable for everybody to play
on.
SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
So this sounds actually a lot like traditional
sports.
You have basically a gym and youset aside time to practice.
You have special equipment forit, and that's that's pretty
cool.
And coaching sounds like.
SPEAKER_03 (08:02):
Yes, there is some coaching that goes into it.
Is there a team captain or acoach?
Are you all self-organized?
How does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (08:11):
So right now, I know we're in the process of getting
a new esports coordinator.
That person really sets thingsup for us.
I believe that we're stillsponsored by Red Bull.
So we have that, and like ouresports coordinator talks to
them and like keeps us sponsoredand stuff like that.
But the way that we do it inbetween the different games, it
kind of depends.
So like for my team, we have twocaptains.
(08:33):
It's me and one other person.
And we just kind of like go inand we look at it for the week
and say, okay, here's when ourplayers are available to
practice, here's what we need towork on, and so on.
Because we have communityleaders where they set up like
community events for us to goto.
Here recently, we just did akickball tournament.
And so it was everybody inesports that wanted to play, and
(08:53):
then it was open for everybodyelse in the college.
And that was a way for esportsto kind of mingle with other
students who maybe didn't knowwe had an esports team.
SPEAKER_03 (09:02):
And so that was on campus, but now do you do
community events off our campusfor folks from the high schools
or the local community colleges?
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
I don't believe we have yet, but we're really
looking towards it.
I believe they did this onetime, I think it was before I
started going to college here.
They set up a big PC gamingtournament in the recreational
gym.
And they set out a tarp, set upa bunch of PCs, and anybody
could come.
High schools, colleges.
I mean, there's pictures of it.
It looked pretty fun, but Iwasn't here at the time.
(09:34):
I was still in high school.
SPEAKER_03 (09:35):
So now tell us a little bit about intercollegiate
competition, because I think yousaid you have played with people
from James Madison University onthe East Coast and Stephen F.
Austin, which is down in NackyDoges, Texas.
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_02 (09:50):
Yes, ma'am.
So the league that we play incurrently is called PlayFi.
They set it up for us, but we'reable to enter in and you have to
pay to enter your team in.
But then you're put intobrackets, and it's kind of like
a regular sports team.
You play one team, and if youbeat that team, you move on to
the next and next and so on.
We were in a double round robinthis last semester because there
(10:11):
were only, I think there wasonly five or six teams.
So we played every team twice inour bracket.
SPEAKER_03 (10:16):
Are these brackets, are they like ranked the way we
have D1, D2, D3 for sports, youknow, D1 being the hardest and
most competitive and they getscholarships and all that sort
of stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (10:28):
So each game that's competitive usually has their
own ranking system.
So our ranking system for Siegeis based off of tiers, and our
tiers go bronze, copper, silver,gold, platinum, emerald, and
then diamond.
Diamond is considered your topplayers, and then your top top
is called champ, and they'reranked globally.
SPEAKER_03 (10:48):
Globally?
Well, I understand that theyplay all around the world China,
Korea, Russia, the UK.
SPEAKER_02 (10:55):
Yes, ma'am.
So you have esports, which islike your collegiate teams, and
then you have for us, it'scalled Pro League.
And those are the pros.
SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
And so they have sponsors like Red Bull and Nike.
The look on your face is sayingthis is serious.
SPEAKER_02 (11:10):
Yes, they get some pretty good sponsorships.
And you know, the way that Ithink it's different, because
like on football, you'll havelike when you have your
commercials, here's yoursponsors for that.
For us, whenever they'restreaming the games, which is
they usually stream on Twitch,you'll have at least one or two
sponsorships up there at leastthe whole time.
And then, like, if you'responsored, you know, you'll get
the names on the jerseys andstuff like that.
SPEAKER_03 (11:32):
Well, see, that was the other thing I wanted to ask
you about is how do your fansget to see this?
SPEAKER_02 (11:37):
So we stream on Twitch, and then we're gonna be
a little more proactive about itthis upcoming semester, about
letting people know when we'regonna have games and stuff.
So when I'm playing the game, Ican only see my perspective as
long as I'm alive.
For me specifically, I can geton cams or any gadgets that we
have that might give intel.
And so that's my point of view.
But from a viewer's point ofview, we usually have a caster
(12:00):
who is in the casting spot who'sable to click on each different
character and see what's goingon throughout the game.
They can also see from atop-down perspective, or they
can free roam with a free camerato trying to see what's going
on.
So as long as you have a goodcaster who's also explaining
what's going on while they'retelling the viewer who's
watching, it's prettyinteresting and it keeps you
(12:21):
entertained because they canswitch from not only our
perspective, but the enemyteam's perspective.
So it gives you a unique lookinto what's going on.
SPEAKER_03 (12:29):
So they can see all five teammates playing against
the other five all at one time?
Yes, ma'am.
Wow, that's complicated stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (12:38):
It gets a little confusing, but as long as you
have a caster that was at leastinto it, you know, they if
somebody gets a kill and they'relike, yay, they they got a kill,
then you're pretty entertainedbecause you're you're always
like, There's so much going on,you know, how am I supposed to
keep up?
But it's entertaining.
And I think for me watching it,it's like, yeah, I don't want to
put the phone down.
I want to keep watching.
SPEAKER_03 (12:58):
Can you really see that much on an iPhone?
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
I think it's better like on a TV, but like if I'm on
the go or if I just want tocheck in on the score to see
who's winning, they'll usuallyhave the scoreboard put up and
like what ops people areplaying, who's currently on the
roster, who's currently playing,who's subbed, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03 (13:16):
Now, Kenna, what do you enjoy about it?
What is the experience of thisesport?
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
I just love being able to play with my friends.
It's a hard game.
It's a very hard learning curve.
I enjoy teaching players how toplay the game, especially if
they've never played it before.
For me, it's really just gettingto have the experience to play
with my friends.
Because I feel like you don'tget that a lot.
And then I don't want to say thestakes aren't as high as if
you're playing soccer.
I played soccer in high school.
(13:42):
And it's like if you were tolose a game of soccer,
everybody's sad.
And it's the same way withesports, but at least then I can
specifically go in with esportsand see what went wrong in that
game.
Because you can watch film insoccer, but I can see each
player's perspectivespecifically and see what they
were doing wrong.
SPEAKER_03 (14:01):
So you can help each other be better.
Tell me about esportsmanship.
Esportsmanship.
SPEAKER_02 (14:08):
It really depends on the game that you're playing.
My game, it's a little more onthe toxic side.
Unfortunately, that's just howthe game was built.
It's very old.
A lot of different people playit, but I will say when it comes
to more competitive play, it'smore sportsmanlike.
You know, a little teasing hereand there is very common.
But I know on some games likethe Valorant, they're pretty
(14:30):
sportsmanlike all around.
SPEAKER_03 (14:32):
I was reading about issues with the sports.
They've even talked about the2027 Olympics having some
esports events and the OlympicGames International Commission,
I guess, is very concerned aboutthings like sportsmanship.
I read something about howsometimes the stress of the
(14:52):
competitiveness can get tostudents.
Or you're saying you'd it's morefun.
SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
For us, I especially like to keep it very lively and
very fun for my team.
Losing in any game is never fun,whether it's soccer or a video
game.
But for me, it's never let meharp on one player who did
something wrong.
It's what can we do bettermoving on to this next round?
Because for me, the biggestthing I always say is if you
(15:20):
ruin morale, the game is alreadyover.
SPEAKER_03 (15:23):
Oh, good attitude.
I like that.
Now, how long does a typical doyou call it, is it a game, a
match?
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
So for our game, we do best of three maps.
One map usually consists, Ibelieve with our rules, it's
first to seven.
So that's seven rounds in onemap.
And it can go where one teamgets a point and the other one
gets a point and it goes toovertime match point.
I think one game that goes allthe way to overtime match point
can be just about an hour.
I want to say that's the longestit can go.
SPEAKER_03 (15:51):
But then you do two more games.
SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
Mm-hmm.
If let's say that you win thefirst one, lose the next one,
then you have the tiebreaker,but you can win the first two
and they and it's just over.
SPEAKER_03 (16:01):
Do you do it all in the same sitting?
SPEAKER_02 (16:03):
Yes.
We do get breaks in between thegames as long as both teams
agree.
But yes, you are sitting therefor a little bit.
And it can be stressful if thegames are close every single
time.
So I make sure that my playersget up, stretch your legs before
this next game, clear your mind,close your eyes.
I do recommend, if you do liketo play video games
competitively, some blue lightglasses.
SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
I was wondering about that because your eyes can
get real tired.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, do you all have uniforms?
SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
We do.
I got my jersey in my firstsemester.
So if you play for competitiveesports league, then you get a
jersey.
The front of it will have whoyou're sponsored by, and ours
are blue with orange sleeves,and the back of it has your
gamer tag or what you like to goby.
So our team, we have it split.
We have varsity A and thenvarsity B.
(16:49):
And then we just go by UT Tyleror UTT.
Varsity A plays usually in thevarsity league of Playfi.
So it's a little bit harder.
They're at that top, thatdiamond or champ level, and then
we have varsity B that plays inthe lower league.
They still compete.
They just don't play in as ashard of a bracket.
So we don't want to put them ina bracket where they're just not
(17:10):
gonna win.
So we put them in the samebracket that they're gonna play
the same level of skill.
SPEAKER_03 (17:15):
Now, is there an esports season or do you play
all year?
How does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (17:20):
There is a season for the league that we play in.
They do a fall and springseason.
So you'll pay to play bothseasons at the beginning of
fall.
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
You pay to play?
SPEAKER_02 (17:29):
I believe the school pays them I th I think it's a
thousand for the fall and springsemester.
I could be wrong.
I'm not sure.
The players themselves don'thave to pay.
We didn't have to pay for ourjerseys or anything like that.
But you also are playing for aprize pool.
So if we were to win, we wouldwin the money that was
associated with every team thatput their money in.
(17:50):
So I think the prize pool forthis last season, this spring
season, was 2600.
SPEAKER_03 (17:56):
And what does that do?
Go back to the university thento support the next year's
games?
SPEAKER_02 (18:01):
So for our winnings, it depends.
It usually just gets dispersedback to the players.
SPEAKER_03 (18:06):
To the players.
Whoa, that's interesting.
I know it's pretty goodincentive.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, a lot of times we talkabout what sports do for us,
physical sports.
They make us healthy for therest of our lives.
They teach team sports.
And you know, one of the thingsthat we're told by businesses
right now is that students needto learn how to work on teams
because that's one of thebiggest necessities in the
(18:27):
professional world.
Sounds like it would work thesame way for you all, though
that would be another benefit ofthis esports.
SPEAKER_02 (18:34):
I definitely think so.
With this, it definitely comesinto more team play, I think,
because in a sport that's morephysical, it's not just
teamwork, it's also howphysically fit are you?
And that doesn't really comeinto play in esports, it's more
of the communication that youhave in between your teams.
SPEAKER_03 (18:50):
Aaron Powell Yeah, that's a big difference is that
you don't have to work out everyday and, you know, do laps and
sit-ups and weights and thingslike that.
But you do have to practice yourpersonal skills, right?
And you do that sort of for funthough, because it's a game,
isn't it?
SPEAKER_02 (19:06):
Aaron Powell And you know, we'll hold our practices,
but a lot of our players justplay in their free time because
they like to play the game.
SPEAKER_01 (19:11):
One of the big things I I was hoping to hear
about was in the context of likestudent engagement, how it may
help some students to getconnected on campus is when
they're going to a college andyou know you think about people
who move someplace and theydon't have anybody there.
Have you found that esports canhelp students to connect with
(19:32):
each other or to make goodfriends when they go off to
college?
SPEAKER_02 (19:35):
Absolutely.
You know, for some people it'sjust their thing, you know.
Like some people, you know, theywant to go to college to play
soccer.
And for other people, they'regoing to college for education
and they feel alone because theyare either hundreds of miles
away or, you know, they have nofriends.
They just started.
I think esports is definitelythe place to meet new friends
and to make new connections.
And like I said earlier, like wedon't just play video games.
(19:57):
So it's not like you join theesports and now that's just your
little circle.
Of course it can be if that'swhat you want it to be.
We also like to reach out toother student organizations or
other students and just let themhave those connections to other
people, the ability to meetother people and really just get
them comfortable with thecollege life.
Because I know when I first camehere, I didn't know anybody and
I spent all the time in my dorm.
(20:18):
So I think we're strivingtowards making student
engagement like our number onepriority.
We're hoping that by having theopen hours or just being able to
meet other players that they'reable to kind of take them away
from playing by themselves.
SPEAKER_03 (20:31):
One of my biggest concerns about college is that
it is easy to get isolated,especially with the way we use
media today.
And so it's a really wonderfulopportunity for you to develop
some leadership skills and widenthe community.
You know, one of the questions Iwanted to ask you is what do you
want folks to know aboutesports?
(20:53):
Because I know there's somestereotypes and some things that
I'll bet you'd like to correctabout that.
And so I want to invite you todo that.
SPEAKER_02 (21:01):
You know, I would just say it it's not just
sitting in front of the screenall day and playing video games.
It's making those friendships,it's meeting those new people.
And especially in a collegesetting, it is that branching
out.
Let's not stay isolated, let'smeet these new people.
And then once you've made thoseconnections, it doesn't just
have to be esports either.
You know, oh we're we're friendsnow, let's let's go out to go
(21:21):
get something to eat or let's gowatch a movie together.
And as a captain, I like to dothat with my team.
Let's go, let's go all get somefood or something.
Let's take a step away from, youknow, just being on the screen
and let's go do something else.
Big thing with esports isthey're like, well, you're just
playing video games all day.
It's just not the case.
SPEAKER_03 (21:45):
Without giving away too many of your game strategies
that help you to be winning,what are some of the skills that
you think of helping yourteammates to develop?
SPEAKER_02 (21:55):
I think skills that can be applied in both video
games and just real life.
Very big one with a lot of videogames that are either it's
controller or keyboard or mouseis hand-eye coordination.
You gotta know what you'redoing, you know, and it comes
with the mechanics of the game.
So for me as a nurse, like handeye coordination, that's a big
thing.
If I'm putting it in IV, foley,anything like that, I need to be
(22:15):
able to have that.
And I feel like esports isgiving that to me better than,
you know, if I just didn't playvideo games at all.
There's problem solving, there'sflexibility, being able to
adapt.
I mean, there's just a ton ofthings that esports can give you
skills-wise that could be inreal life too.
I mean, it's it's prettyendless.
SPEAKER_03 (22:36):
Well, we really appreciate your coming out this
afternoon to talk to us aboutthis, and we're looking forward
to sharing what you've told usabout it.
It's lovely to have talked withyou.
SPEAKER_02 (22:46):
I appreciate you guys for having me out, and you
know, I can send you guys somestuff from our practices if you
want to see.
You bet.
We bet.
SPEAKER_01 (22:52):
Well, Ashley, I guess is that a wrap?
That's a wrap.
Yeah, and if anybody listeninghas any questions about esports
or a question that maybe wecould refer to Kenna for, you
can leave a comment or send usan email at adrquestions at
gmail.com.
See you next week.
Stay tuned to the Ask Dr.
Ross Podcast.
It's created to give you info tosucceed at college.
Our hosts are highly qualified.
Dr.
Katherine Ross is a member ofthe University of Texas Systems
Academy of DistinguishedTeachers.
She's also a popular professorof 19th century English
literature.
Ask Dr.
(00:24):
Ross is a community service ofthe University of Texas at
Tyler.
SPEAKER_03 (00:31):
Welcome to another episode of Ask Dr.
Ross.
Today, even though we've heard alot about athletics at
universities, we want to talkwith someone who can tell us a
little bit about esports, andthat is Miss Kenna Rivers, who
is a junior here at UT Tyler.
She's a nursing student.
And we understand that you knowa whole lot about esports at UT
(00:52):
Tyler and are even competing.
Why don't you tell us when didyou start getting involved in
esports?
Probably what, when you were alittle kid?
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
Yeah, so esports itself is more like competitive.
So I got into video games veryyoung.
My brothers played video games.
I wanted to play video games.
I think the first video game Iever saw my brother playing was
I think it was Left 4 Dead 2.
That was a zombie game.
There's not an esports versionof it, but that was a fun game
for me, and I told my mom, yeah,I want an Xbox.
(01:22):
And the rest is history.
SPEAKER_03 (01:24):
Pretty much.
There we go.
So now when you say esports,that's actually competitive.
So you gotta tell us about that,because I don't know how many
people are that familiar withthis wonderful new world of
sporting.
SPEAKER_02 (01:37):
It depends on the game.
Like some games are likecompetitive in their own nature,
but then you have games thatkind of go to that next level.
So the team that I currently amthe captain for is Rainbow Six
Siege, and that's a very Whoawhoa.
SPEAKER_03 (01:49):
What's the name of it again?
SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
Rainbow Six Siege.
As in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.
SPEAKER_03 (01:54):
Okay, and what kind of a game is it?
SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
It's a tactical FPS shooter.
FPS means first person.
It's really big on like how areyou gonna go about this round?
How are you gonna attack thisround or defend it?
Is it strategies then?
Very, very strat The match willstart and you'll start with
banning an operator.
So each side gets to pick anoperator they can ban.
And they're adding new operatorsevery year, but each operator
(02:16):
has their own unique abilitiesthat they can bring to that
match.
So on defense, there'scharacters.
One goes by the name of Bandit.
He's a year one operator, Ibelieve.
And his gadget is an electrifiedcar battery that can electrify a
wall.
And you'd think, okay, well,that's cool.
So what is that, what's thepoint in that?
But if you pair that withsomebody who has like good
(02:36):
synergy, like a new operatorthat just got added is tuberao,
he can freeze gadgets andplayers.
You can have people on attackwho have to, let's say, breach
that wall.
So you really have to thinkabout what is the other team
doing?
What is my team going to do tobeat that team on their map?
SPEAKER_03 (02:54):
And since these are folks that are competing across
campuses, you all been playingthis for years and you've got
this all doped out way ahead oftime.
SPEAKER_02 (03:01):
Yes.
You have to know things likecall-outs or like where they are
on the map, and then also whatthis operator does and so on.
It's confusing, but for somepeople it's just like second
nature.
SPEAKER_03 (03:14):
So the one that you enjoy most is more realistic
looking.
It looks like army guys and gunsand Yes, ma'am.
Now, is it pretty violent?
SPEAKER_02 (03:23):
You know, that's a big thing that everybody says is
that video games are violent,but I personally don't think so.
There's always sliders.
So if you prefer not to have theblood, you don't have to have
it.
Sliders is like a setting whereyou can go in and just turn it
off if you don't want to see it.
Most people like to have it onbecause it indicates like, oh,
I've hit them, but I maybe Ididn't down them, but I see the
blood on the wall, so I know Ihit them, and so on.
SPEAKER_03 (03:45):
So now when you're competing, is it you against one
other player or a group ofplayers?
How does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
So it kind of depends on the game that you're
playing.
So for my game specifically,it's 5v5.
So you have five people ondefense and five people on
offense.
SPEAKER_03 (04:02):
And so it's five people from your team and five
people from the other team.
So how do you practice?
SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
There's a couple different things you can do.
For my game specifically,whenever we come up with new
strats, which is like how we'llset up site or how we'll attack,
we'll sometimes we'll do it justthe five of us.
And we'll talk about a strat andwe'll use Discord and we'll pull
up basically like a top-downview of the map.
This is where you're gonna putyour stuff, this is where you're
gonna sit, this is where you'regonna watch.
(04:28):
And then once we feel like wehave it down, then we'll find
other teams to basicallyscrimmage with.
SPEAKER_03 (04:34):
So now let's back up a little bit.
You showed up at UT Tyler andyou were already a gamer.
How did you become an esportsplayer?
SPEAKER_02 (04:43):
Well, I didn't know when I first got here that we
had an esports team, and I wasgetting lunch at Chick-fil-A and
I saw it on the TV that theywere having tryouts for my game
specifically.
And I was like, Oh, I didn'tknow we had an esports team, you
know, might as well go and tryout.
So how do you try out It kind ofdepends on the game and how the
captain wants to run it.
I know when I tried out, I wasat a little bit of a
(05:04):
disadvantage because esports istypically played on PC or a
computer.
And to do that, you had to playon keyboard and mouse.
It's a lot different.
That was the first time I hadever played on keyboard and
mouse was when I tried out forthe team.
So I was really nervous I wasn'tgonna make the team because I
wasn't very good at keyboard andmouse.
I knew it was going on.
I played the game for a longtime.
I just wasn't very good at thecontrols yet.
(05:25):
When we were trying out, theywere looking more for game
sense.
Did you know what was going on?
Do you know what this means whensomebody says that they're top
mez and stuff like that?
SPEAKER_03 (05:33):
Did you make the team the first time?
SPEAKER_02 (05:35):
I did.
I did.
I was a sub player, but that wasokay because I totally knew why.
I just wasn't very good atkeyboard and mouse yet.
So how long did it take you toget good at the keyboard and
mouse?
About two weeks.
Two weeks.
SPEAKER_03 (05:47):
So how many hours a week do you practice?
SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
It really just depends on I played.
We practiced at least once aweek.
So for me, I didn't have acomputer yet, so I'd have to go
to the lab and play.
SPEAKER_03 (05:59):
So the university supplies a space with the
computers.
SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_03 (06:04):
Okay, great.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
So how often I would say about at least once a week.
We'll say at least 10 hours aweek.
And then if we had a game thatweek, probably closer to to
twelve.
SPEAKER_01 (06:16):
I'm curious what you could tell our listeners about
the lab.
I've passed by it every once ina while.
I used to be a tour guide, andso they would tell us to point
at the esports lab, but I neveractually got to go in or know
more about it.
So what is the esports lab andhow did it get started?
SPEAKER_02 (06:33):
I'm not entirely sure how the esports lab
started.
I think it was just, you know,one of those things where it was
getting popular in othercolleges.
The eSport Lab itself, it's gotPCs and monitors and you know
the specs that you can play on.
But it's not just for people whoare on a competitive esports
team.
We have community hours wherethe doors open.
You're more than welcome to comein, play any games that we have
(06:55):
on there, and we have all sortsof games.
We have Minecraft, Apex,Fortnite, anything that you know
you can think of, you can play.
And then of course there's hoursset specifically for esports
teams to practice.
We just got approved for brandnew PCs,$50,000 to go into 10
new PCs.
Wow.
And just to give you like anidea, when I built mine, my PC
(07:17):
is a little bit on the mid tolower end and was about$1,200.
So they get a little expensive,but I think we're looking to
really kind of step it upbecause that has been a big
problem with us is not beingable to compete at the level
that we need to because thespecs on our computers just
aren't there yet.
But I'm not worried about thatcome the fall.
The brand new PCs will be built,so we'll be able to really
(07:38):
compete.
And that means other people cancome in and play as well.
Because that was a problem wherewe would have a PC that would
blue screen and then we'd openup for community hours when we'd
only have a couple PCs that wereavailable for everybody to play
on.
SPEAKER_01 (07:51):
So this sounds actually a lot like traditional
sports.
You have basically a gym and youset aside time to practice.
You have special equipment forit, and that's that's pretty
cool.
And coaching sounds like.
SPEAKER_03 (08:02):
Yes, there is some coaching that goes into it.
Is there a team captain or acoach?
Are you all self-organized?
How does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (08:11):
So right now, I know we're in the process of getting
a new esports coordinator.
That person really sets thingsup for us.
I believe that we're stillsponsored by Red Bull.
So we have that, and like ouresports coordinator talks to
them and like keeps us sponsoredand stuff like that.
But the way that we do it inbetween the different games, it
kind of depends.
So like for my team, we have twocaptains.
(08:33):
It's me and one other person.
And we just kind of like go inand we look at it for the week
and say, okay, here's when ourplayers are available to
practice, here's what we need towork on, and so on.
Because we have communityleaders where they set up like
community events for us to goto.
Here recently, we just did akickball tournament.
And so it was everybody inesports that wanted to play, and
(08:53):
then it was open for everybodyelse in the college.
And that was a way for esportsto kind of mingle with other
students who maybe didn't knowwe had an esports team.
SPEAKER_03 (09:02):
And so that was on campus, but now do you do
community events off our campusfor folks from the high schools
or the local community colleges?
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
I don't believe we have yet, but we're really
looking towards it.
I believe they did this onetime, I think it was before I
started going to college here.
They set up a big PC gamingtournament in the recreational
gym.
And they set out a tarp, set upa bunch of PCs, and anybody
could come.
High schools, colleges.
I mean, there's pictures of it.
It looked pretty fun, but Iwasn't here at the time.
(09:34):
I was still in high school.
SPEAKER_03 (09:35):
So now tell us a little bit about intercollegiate
competition, because I think yousaid you have played with people
from James Madison University onthe East Coast and Stephen F.
Austin, which is down in NackyDoges, Texas.
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_02 (09:50):
Yes, ma'am.
So the league that we play incurrently is called PlayFi.
They set it up for us, but we'reable to enter in and you have to
pay to enter your team in.
But then you're put intobrackets, and it's kind of like
a regular sports team.
You play one team, and if youbeat that team, you move on to
the next and next and so on.
We were in a double round robinthis last semester because there
(10:11):
were only, I think there wasonly five or six teams.
So we played every team twice inour bracket.
SPEAKER_03 (10:16):
Are these brackets, are they like ranked the way we
have D1, D2, D3 for sports, youknow, D1 being the hardest and
most competitive and they getscholarships and all that sort
of stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (10:28):
So each game that's competitive usually has their
own ranking system.
So our ranking system for Siegeis based off of tiers, and our
tiers go bronze, copper, silver,gold, platinum, emerald, and
then diamond.
Diamond is considered your topplayers, and then your top top
is called champ, and they'reranked globally.
SPEAKER_03 (10:48):
Globally?
Well, I understand that theyplay all around the world China,
Korea, Russia, the UK.
SPEAKER_02 (10:55):
Yes, ma'am.
So you have esports, which islike your collegiate teams, and
then you have for us, it'scalled Pro League.
And those are the pros.
SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
And so they have sponsors like Red Bull and Nike.
The look on your face is sayingthis is serious.
SPEAKER_02 (11:10):
Yes, they get some pretty good sponsorships.
And you know, the way that Ithink it's different, because
like on football, you'll havelike when you have your
commercials, here's yoursponsors for that.
For us, whenever they'restreaming the games, which is
they usually stream on Twitch,you'll have at least one or two
sponsorships up there at leastthe whole time.
And then, like, if you'responsored, you know, you'll get
the names on the jerseys andstuff like that.
SPEAKER_03 (11:32):
Well, see, that was the other thing I wanted to ask
you about is how do your fansget to see this?
SPEAKER_02 (11:37):
So we stream on Twitch, and then we're gonna be
a little more proactive about itthis upcoming semester, about
letting people know when we'regonna have games and stuff.
So when I'm playing the game, Ican only see my perspective as
long as I'm alive.
For me specifically, I can geton cams or any gadgets that we
have that might give intel.
And so that's my point of view.
But from a viewer's point ofview, we usually have a caster
(12:00):
who is in the casting spot who'sable to click on each different
character and see what's goingon throughout the game.
They can also see from atop-down perspective, or they
can free roam with a free camerato trying to see what's going
on.
So as long as you have a goodcaster who's also explaining
what's going on while they'retelling the viewer who's
watching, it's prettyinteresting and it keeps you
(12:21):
entertained because they canswitch from not only our
perspective, but the enemyteam's perspective.
So it gives you a unique lookinto what's going on.
SPEAKER_03 (12:29):
So they can see all five teammates playing against
the other five all at one time?
Yes, ma'am.
Wow, that's complicated stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (12:38):
It gets a little confusing, but as long as you
have a caster that was at leastinto it, you know, they if
somebody gets a kill and they'relike, yay, they they got a kill,
then you're pretty entertainedbecause you're you're always
like, There's so much going on,you know, how am I supposed to
keep up?
But it's entertaining.
And I think for me watching it,it's like, yeah, I don't want to
put the phone down.
I want to keep watching.
SPEAKER_03 (12:58):
Can you really see that much on an iPhone?
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
I think it's better like on a TV, but like if I'm on
the go or if I just want tocheck in on the score to see
who's winning, they'll usuallyhave the scoreboard put up and
like what ops people areplaying, who's currently on the
roster, who's currently playing,who's subbed, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03 (13:16):
Now, Kenna, what do you enjoy about it?
What is the experience of thisesport?
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
I just love being able to play with my friends.
It's a hard game.
It's a very hard learning curve.
I enjoy teaching players how toplay the game, especially if
they've never played it before.
For me, it's really just gettingto have the experience to play
with my friends.
Because I feel like you don'tget that a lot.
And then I don't want to say thestakes aren't as high as if
you're playing soccer.
I played soccer in high school.
(13:42):
And it's like if you were tolose a game of soccer,
everybody's sad.
And it's the same way withesports, but at least then I can
specifically go in with esportsand see what went wrong in that
game.
Because you can watch film insoccer, but I can see each
player's perspectivespecifically and see what they
were doing wrong.
SPEAKER_03 (14:01):
So you can help each other be better.
Tell me about esportsmanship.
Esportsmanship.
SPEAKER_02 (14:08):
It really depends on the game that you're playing.
My game, it's a little more onthe toxic side.
Unfortunately, that's just howthe game was built.
It's very old.
A lot of different people playit, but I will say when it comes
to more competitive play, it'smore sportsmanlike.
You know, a little teasing hereand there is very common.
But I know on some games likethe Valorant, they're pretty
(14:30):
sportsmanlike all around.
SPEAKER_03 (14:32):
I was reading about issues with the sports.
They've even talked about the2027 Olympics having some
esports events and the OlympicGames International Commission,
I guess, is very concerned aboutthings like sportsmanship.
I read something about howsometimes the stress of the
(14:52):
competitiveness can get tostudents.
Or you're saying you'd it's morefun.
SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
For us, I especially like to keep it very lively and
very fun for my team.
Losing in any game is never fun,whether it's soccer or a video
game.
But for me, it's never let meharp on one player who did
something wrong.
It's what can we do bettermoving on to this next round?
Because for me, the biggestthing I always say is if you
(15:20):
ruin morale, the game is alreadyover.
SPEAKER_03 (15:23):
Oh, good attitude.
I like that.
Now, how long does a typical doyou call it, is it a game, a
match?
SPEAKER_02 (15:30):
So for our game, we do best of three maps.
One map usually consists, Ibelieve with our rules, it's
first to seven.
So that's seven rounds in onemap.
And it can go where one teamgets a point and the other one
gets a point and it goes toovertime match point.
I think one game that goes allthe way to overtime match point
can be just about an hour.
I want to say that's the longestit can go.
SPEAKER_03 (15:51):
But then you do two more games.
SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
Mm-hmm.
If let's say that you win thefirst one, lose the next one,
then you have the tiebreaker,but you can win the first two
and they and it's just over.
SPEAKER_03 (16:01):
Do you do it all in the same sitting?
SPEAKER_02 (16:03):
Yes.
We do get breaks in between thegames as long as both teams
agree.
But yes, you are sitting therefor a little bit.
And it can be stressful if thegames are close every single
time.
So I make sure that my playersget up, stretch your legs before
this next game, clear your mind,close your eyes.
I do recommend, if you do liketo play video games
competitively, some blue lightglasses.
SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
I was wondering about that because your eyes can
get real tired.
Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, do you all have uniforms?
SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
We do.
I got my jersey in my firstsemester.
So if you play for competitiveesports league, then you get a
jersey.
The front of it will have whoyou're sponsored by, and ours
are blue with orange sleeves,and the back of it has your
gamer tag or what you like to goby.
So our team, we have it split.
We have varsity A and thenvarsity B.
(16:49):
And then we just go by UT Tyleror UTT.
Varsity A plays usually in thevarsity league of Playfi.
So it's a little bit harder.
They're at that top, thatdiamond or champ level, and then
we have varsity B that plays inthe lower league.
They still compete.
They just don't play in as ashard of a bracket.
So we don't want to put them ina bracket where they're just not
(17:10):
gonna win.
So we put them in the samebracket that they're gonna play
the same level of skill.
SPEAKER_03 (17:15):
Now, is there an esports season or do you play
all year?
How does that work?
SPEAKER_02 (17:20):
There is a season for the league that we play in.
They do a fall and springseason.
So you'll pay to play bothseasons at the beginning of
fall.
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
You pay to play?
SPEAKER_02 (17:29):
I believe the school pays them I th I think it's a
thousand for the fall and springsemester.
I could be wrong.
I'm not sure.
The players themselves don'thave to pay.
We didn't have to pay for ourjerseys or anything like that.
But you also are playing for aprize pool.
So if we were to win, we wouldwin the money that was
associated with every team thatput their money in.
(17:50):
So I think the prize pool forthis last season, this spring
season, was 2600.
SPEAKER_03 (17:56):
And what does that do?
Go back to the university thento support the next year's
games?
SPEAKER_02 (18:01):
So for our winnings, it depends.
It usually just gets dispersedback to the players.
SPEAKER_03 (18:06):
To the players.
Whoa, that's interesting.
I know it's pretty goodincentive.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, a lot of times we talkabout what sports do for us,
physical sports.
They make us healthy for therest of our lives.
They teach team sports.
And you know, one of the thingsthat we're told by businesses
right now is that students needto learn how to work on teams
because that's one of thebiggest necessities in the
(18:27):
professional world.
Sounds like it would work thesame way for you all, though
that would be another benefit ofthis esports.
SPEAKER_02 (18:34):
I definitely think so.
With this, it definitely comesinto more team play, I think,
because in a sport that's morephysical, it's not just
teamwork, it's also howphysically fit are you?
And that doesn't really comeinto play in esports, it's more
of the communication that youhave in between your teams.
SPEAKER_03 (18:50):
Aaron Powell Yeah, that's a big difference is that
you don't have to work out everyday and, you know, do laps and
sit-ups and weights and thingslike that.
But you do have to practice yourpersonal skills, right?
And you do that sort of for funthough, because it's a game,
isn't it?
SPEAKER_02 (19:06):
Aaron Powell And you know, we'll hold our practices,
but a lot of our players justplay in their free time because
they like to play the game.
SPEAKER_01 (19:11):
One of the big things I I was hoping to hear
about was in the context of likestudent engagement, how it may
help some students to getconnected on campus is when
they're going to a college andyou know you think about people
who move someplace and theydon't have anybody there.
Have you found that esports canhelp students to connect with
(19:32):
each other or to make goodfriends when they go off to
college?
SPEAKER_02 (19:35):
Absolutely.
You know, for some people it'sjust their thing, you know.
Like some people, you know, theywant to go to college to play
soccer.
And for other people, they'regoing to college for education
and they feel alone because theyare either hundreds of miles
away or, you know, they have nofriends.
They just started.
I think esports is definitelythe place to meet new friends
and to make new connections.
And like I said earlier, like wedon't just play video games.
(19:57):
So it's not like you join theesports and now that's just your
little circle.
Of course it can be if that'swhat you want it to be.
We also like to reach out toother student organizations or
other students and just let themhave those connections to other
people, the ability to meetother people and really just get
them comfortable with thecollege life.
Because I know when I first camehere, I didn't know anybody and
I spent all the time in my dorm.
(20:18):
So I think we're strivingtowards making student
engagement like our number onepriority.
We're hoping that by having theopen hours or just being able to
meet other players that they'reable to kind of take them away
from playing by themselves.
SPEAKER_03 (20:31):
One of my biggest concerns about college is that
it is easy to get isolated,especially with the way we use
media today.
And so it's a really wonderfulopportunity for you to develop
some leadership skills and widenthe community.
You know, one of the questions Iwanted to ask you is what do you
want folks to know aboutesports?
(20:53):
Because I know there's somestereotypes and some things that
I'll bet you'd like to correctabout that.
And so I want to invite you todo that.
SPEAKER_02 (21:01):
You know, I would just say it it's not just
sitting in front of the screenall day and playing video games.
It's making those friendships,it's meeting those new people.
And especially in a collegesetting, it is that branching
out.
Let's not stay isolated, let'smeet these new people.
And then once you've made thoseconnections, it doesn't just
have to be esports either.
You know, oh we're we're friendsnow, let's let's go out to go
(21:21):
get something to eat or let's gowatch a movie together.
And as a captain, I like to dothat with my team.
Let's go, let's go all get somefood or something.
Let's take a step away from, youknow, just being on the screen
and let's go do something else.
Big thing with esports isthey're like, well, you're just
playing video games all day.
It's just not the case.
SPEAKER_03 (21:45):
Without giving away too many of your game strategies
that help you to be winning,what are some of the skills that
you think of helping yourteammates to develop?
SPEAKER_02 (21:55):
I think skills that can be applied in both video
games and just real life.
Very big one with a lot of videogames that are either it's
controller or keyboard or mouseis hand-eye coordination.
You gotta know what you'redoing, you know, and it comes
with the mechanics of the game.
So for me as a nurse, like handeye coordination, that's a big
thing.
If I'm putting it in IV, foley,anything like that, I need to be
(22:15):
able to have that.
And I feel like esports isgiving that to me better than,
you know, if I just didn't playvideo games at all.
There's problem solving, there'sflexibility, being able to
adapt.
I mean, there's just a ton ofthings that esports can give you
skills-wise that could be inreal life too.
I mean, it's it's prettyendless.
SPEAKER_03 (22:36):
Well, we really appreciate your coming out this
afternoon to talk to us aboutthis, and we're looking forward
to sharing what you've told usabout it.
It's lovely to have talked withyou.
SPEAKER_02 (22:46):
I appreciate you guys for having me out, and you
know, I can send you guys somestuff from our practices if you
want to see.
You bet.
We bet.
SPEAKER_01 (22:52):
Well, Ashley, I guess is that a wrap?
That's a wrap.
Yeah, and if anybody listeninghas any questions about esports
or a question that maybe wecould refer to Kenna for, you
can leave a comment or send usan email at adrquestions at
gmail.com.
See you next week.
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