RACINE, Wis. — Joseph Schurian can spend hours breaking down Rocket League.
As JosephTheVoice on Twitch, Schurian streams his own gameplay to his digital audience, but the 30-year-old is also a Rocket League coach. With a passion for competitive gaming, Schurian worked with Racine high school esports teams in their earliest days.
“I’ve been a coach for Smash. I’ve been a coach for Overwatch. I’ve been a coach for Rocket League,” Schurian said. “I know what a lot of those games take to build a team around.”
Five Racine high school teams now practice at Not Your Parents’ Basement (NYPB) Gaming Lounge. T.J. Buchmann is a junior at Horlick, where he is the Rebels’ Rocket League team captain.
“We didn’t actually have one the year before I came,” Buchmann said. “So when I started, it was our first year as a Rocket League team.”
Esports is not simply a club for kids to play video games. A lot more goes into a successful high school program.
“[Players] are able to learn sportsmanship and teamwork at this young age when they’re learning to grow as people,” said Buchmann, who has worked under Schurian at NYPB.
Buchmann said esports have introduced him to new technologies and experiences. For example, the junior recently called play-by-play live on Twitch for a Horlick match against Montello in the game Overwatch.
Schurian said this type of exposure is underrated, if not forgotten, when most consider the merits of esports programs. Recently, the streamer and coach is focused on launching esports programming for fifth through eighth graders in the Racine area, preparing kids to arrive in high school ready to contribute for their school’s team. But not everyone who wants to play has the hardware and headset necessary to compete.
“Am I always going to be able to buy a new controller? Probably not,” Schurian said. “But can I find used hardware? Can I find hardware that I’ve had lying around that I can subsidize and give to a student? Of course.”
His solution: a year-end fundraiser to support middle school esports endeavors. One dollar (or 100 bits on Twitch) earns one a single entry into a New Year’s Day raffle, in which Schurian will announce winners of more than $3,000 worth of donated tickets, autographs and other collectibles.
With youth programs, Schurian hopes to expand the talent pool so the state’s college esports programs don’t have to look far for worthy recruits.
“I would like to see every one of them get a scholarship from Lakeland University, Carthage College, Parkside, Concordia, all these great colleges I know have programs,” Schurian said. “I want them to come to me and ask if they can meet you because they see the high potential you have.”
Guidng those kids toward these scholarships, Schurian said, would be even greater than a state championship.
