Baylor University has hired its first Esports director and coach.
Adam Stanley is a Baylor alum and comes back to Waco from Brewton-Parker College – a small private school in Georgia that he helped make an Esports powerhouse.
Stanley talked with Texas Standard about Esports and what he wants to do at Baylor. Listen to the interview in the audio player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: How are you feeling being back at your alma mater?
Adam Stanley: Oh, this is a dream scenario for me.
I spent 12 years in Waco. I love Baylor University. And for them to endeavor into the world of Esports is a dream come true.
What do we mean by Esports?
Esports is essentially competitive gaming that provides the structure and discipline and guardrails that traditional sports have perfected over the last 150 to 200 years. So Esport is a direct parallel from traditional athletics although it looks a little bit different.
What does Baylor have as far as Esports right now? Are you starting from scratch?
We are starting from scratch when it comes to the competitive side of things. However, there’s been a thriving Oso Esports gaming club that’s been on campus for nearly a decade.
The really amazing thing about Esports right now is that it exists on every college campus across North America. Now the level at which it’s resourced just looks a little bit different.
What does the Esports landscape look like across Texas, and does it really vary from school to school? Are there some in-state rivals that you’re looking at right now?
So there are about 700 institutions across North America that have institutionalized Esports at some level. There’s some sort of brand marking or scholarship structure. The best parallel would be varsity athletics.
However, as we’ve mentioned, Esports exists at every level, and that’s because students are gaming. All of the research suggests, and the polls suggest, that somewhere between 85% and 88% of adolescents are gamers at some level. And so I think there’s a responsibility that we have as educators, as institutions, to give it structure.
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Talk about some of the games or the gaming that you’re going to be participating in.
So the top games that are the most rostered, if you will, are games like “Rocket League,” “League of Legends,” “Overwatch,” “Smash Brothers.”
These are games that have team components that really drive down on the importance of the student development side of things. I mean, these students are working on things like communication and perseverance, how to handle wins and how to hand the losses. Ultimately, this is the real value of Esports.
Aristotle believed that the gymnasium was a critical element to the educational process. And in some ways, we’re just building the new gymnasiums with this endeavor.
How does investing in Esports benefit Baylor and its students?
Yeah, so Baylor is about student flourishing. We want to provide pathways for our students to be the best version of themselves. And as a coach, that is your ultimate purpose. You have a direct line to the heart and affections with a tremendous responsibility for mentorship.
Secondarily, Baylor has made a commitment to broaden research and impact. I’ve already had professors reach out to me about the potential for this project. There are imaginations running wild right now on methods for research. And so that’s very exciting for our institution.
Esports is also really about community. And right now there’s an epidemic of loneliness among adolescents. And I personally believe that Esports can be a tremendous counter-cultural tool for connections and relationships among students.
Right now, there are thousands of educators in the K-12 space who see the value in this, many of which do not understand games or the language of games, but they love their students enough to resource and give time because they see the importance of it. And I think Baylor can help with that and the landscape of things.
And then really Baylor’s about Christian stewardship. All of the polls, as we mentioned, have suggestions that the majority of our students are gaming. We have a responsibility to this population to give structure, discipline, guardrails and really legitimacy to this thing.
Nearly every day I talk to someone my age and they say, “Oh, if this had only been a thing when I was younger.” And I think that speaks to the importance of this.
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