USU Eastern Press Release
This year was the first year USU Eastern has had an Esports team added to the athletic department. Unfortunately, the year was cut short; however, there were a lot of gains made for this program.
We asked head coach Kevin Van Der Spek some questions about how this year went:
What were some of your goals as a team and as a coach this year?
“Esports’ goal this year was to set up the infrastructure to start competing strong in the league. As a coach, to get as many wins as we can. As a first-year program, there wasn’t much hope that we would do well. Despite the odds, we ended the spring season with 20 wins and 21 losses.”
What were some of the high points of the season?
“It was the first week of the season and my three Super Smash Bros Ult. were worried about their matches. The different students that were playing were very talented, which made us think they would lose. It came game day and we sat together setting up each match and each of them said good luck to each other. All three games started at the same time and we started to win each one by a mile. Turned out, we won each match that night.”
What did you learn as a coach this year?
“I learned being a coach is much more than telling students how to play each game. As it turns out, most of the work happens when the players are not around.”
Luckily for coach Van Der Spek, most of his players will be coming back next year. “It is exciting to see because we get to build on the progress we already made together.”
“I think the season overall was very educational. The players and myself learned about how to make a good gaming community. We also learned what it takes to be competitive in this new Esports field,” said Van Der Spek.
Right now, Esports will not be hosting anything over the summer but will be involved in video game tournaments with Carbon Rec.