Division 1 athletes are known to be at the peak of their career; they were the best of the best from where they came. Hours are spent practicing when they could have been spent doing homework or building connections. Instead, they are offering up blood, sweat and tears for their sport, throwing it all on the line for their team and the university they represent. Tony Kim is a Division 1 athlete in the up and coming Esports leagues that are appearing at many prominent colleges, in this case Boston University.
Esports is the next-generation wave of electronic sports. It is commonly referred to as competitive or professional gaming. Many colleges are beginning to adopt these sports and even offer scholarships to students who are invited to participate in them. They are treated very similarly to traditional sports, and even go as far as drug testing the athletes to prevent a competitive edge or cheating.
Kim who plays under the name of MadLifeSmurf, has just completed his first season in the University Campus series where he faces teams in the Eastern Conference where other prestigious universities such as Harvard, Maryland and Temple compete as well. Other universities that compete in the national series, and in other conferences are teams such as Purdue, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. I had the chance to interview Kim about his experiences playing and having "intensive practices and almost too many interviews to handle."
How would you explain your sport to someone who has never heard of it?
"That person must live under a rock because everyone knows about Esports. *laughs* It’s one of a kind and next generation. It involves teamwork, dedication and, you know, communication. We all have our characters — or champions — that five of us control and work against the enemy team strategically to win the game, simply enough. That is as simple as it gets to explain it.”
How did you get involved with Boston’s competitive team?
"I just decided to sign up. They had a Facebook page, and that’s how I got started."
Do you have any pregame rituals you always perform?
"Uh, no we are always just thinking about the match ahead."
Is there a large fan base? Do you often need to fight off groupies around campus?
“Yes we do.”
*Both laughing* That’s it?
“You know.”
Well, tell me a little about your sponsorships; I understand you have a few.
“We’ve been sponsored by Kinguin, they gave us a bunch of game codes, Noscope and Ibuypower.”
Oh, so did you get any cool gear out of that?
"Yeah NoScope gave us some cool gaming glasses."
What do those do?
“It's like you’re wearing a sepia tone filter on your eyes.”
What’s a sepia tone?
“A filter.”
*Laughing* But what does it do?
“It reduces eyestrain while we play.”
On a more serious note, what has been the most exciting moment for you this year?
“Beating Harvard. So, they’ve always been our rivals. We’ve always been head to head and neck and neck. Before the game was broadcasted, we had the, you know, commentators talking about what could possibly happen in this game. They go on and roast me and call me the third string jungler [a position in the game], and that’s like being called the third string quarterback. You’re absolutely nothing to the team. But you know what happened in that first game? I pulled off the game-winning play in front of 100,000 people watching Twitch [an online streaming service], and we beat them 2-0. Which is two games won.”
So what’s the moral of the story?
“Be like me.”
So what comes after college, have you reached your peak? Have you thought about entering the pro scene?
“You know, it’s very hard to say from right now. You know you’ve got academics. You’ve got ladies waiting *laughs*, but… in all seriousness, I’ve been able to talk to professional players over the years and have gotten in touch with them, and they’re looking. They look especially at the collegiate level because that is where they like to recruit fresh talent. So, you know, I’m going to have to wait for in the future in order to see how far I can go.”
In the pro level, is there serious money to be made? Or do many people have other jobs?
“I mean, the number one player makes an easy million a year, so it depends on how good you are.”
Alright, so what would you say to someone who is trying to get into this sport?
“It’s too late.” *Laughs*
Other than that.
“Try your hardest is all I have to say.”
Are you known as the ruthless competitor on your team?
“I’m known as the winner.” *Laughs*
Well thank you for this interview, it’s been a blast.
“No thank you.”
Any closing remarks?
“Please lower our tuition.”
Tony often gets confused when he sees bumper stickers like this:
