In my 22nd year as an educator, I will easily say that being an Esports coach has been one of the top or maybe the top things I have done. Having been part of the start of an esports program at two different school districts has allowed me to help create experiences and opportunities for students that they might not have ever gotten without these programs. Esports is more than just playing video games, it is about being part of a team, learning to grow from facing challenges, growing as a communicator and a collaborator, and just getting to do something fun that can make being them more engaged in being at school than anything else.

I have seen students improve their attendance at school, start to care more about their grades, go from being a solo student to having more friends and teammates who will help them, all while playing video games at school. Being a coach has meant that I had a lot to learn and it was not about how to play better at the games, but how to help students grow in so many ways. But I have been able to grow our programs because I have been able to grow as a coach, thanks to the many others who are doing this at their schools.

I have also had the privilege of attending many educational technology conferences that tend to have sessions dedicated to esports. One of the thing that has come up often in my conversations with other esports coaches has been how they have learned so much from just hearing the experiences of other coaches. How they started their programs, how they run practices, the problems they run into, and the major wins they have had as a program; all are things that they want to hear more about. This got me thinking about how nice it would be to have a podcast just dedicated to allowing high school and college esports coaches sharing out their stories. So seeing as how I had a little bit of free time, I decided it was time to jump back into the podcast game. I had previously been lucky enough to work with others on a podcast called The Friendly Disruption podcast where we focused on accessibility and Universal Design for Learning. This time I was going to do this myself and invite any coach or other person connected to esports to come on the podcast and share their stories.

I have a good number of people lined up but am trying to get so many others to come onto the podcast and share what they have experienced and what they know. My plan is to release at least one episode a week and more if I am able. You can find the podcast episodes on Spotify and the video recordings on YouTube. I will be posting each episode on my site so make sure to check it regularly but I will be posting all updates on my socials.

If you are an esports coach or connected to esports and want to be on the podcast, just send me an email at donovanscience@gmail.com and we will set it up. This project is all about sharing out the stories of those involved in creating esports opportunities for students, and I gurantee you will hear so many reasons why we do the work, it is all about the people involved and especially the students.