The MU Esports Rocket League team will compete in the Collegiate Rocket League National Championship, after a semester spent driving a rented van to competitions across the Midwest.
The team will compete Thursday and Friday for a national title and $50,000 worth of scholarships to be divided among players.
MU’s Rocket League team qualified as the top seed in the Western Conference after competing against schools including Missouri State University, Kansas State University and Colorado State University.
“It’s almost a little surreal knowing how far we’ve come and how much we’ve learned and progressed as a team both on and off the field,” the team’s coach, Ethan Baxter, said.
Rocket League is a varsity-level esport with a roster made up of fully enrolled MU student gamers, sponsored by the university’s Division of Student Affairs.
The team has competed for three semesters since its debut in August 2019.
Much like NCAA team sports, esports teams have regular daily practices, scrimmages against other teams and study halls to ensure players keep up their grades.
Alongside Rocket League, a game of virtual vehicular soccer, Mizzou Esports has teams for Overwatch and League of Legends.
The Rocket League team has had wins before. In fall 2019, the team went undefeated in the National Association of Collegiate Esports Rocket League Championship in Atlanta, a separate division for members only.
“My goal from the beginning was to put Mizzou Esports on the map and let the world know we were going to enter the esports space at a high level,” Kevin Reape, the team’s manager, said.
Mizzou Esports is sponsored by computer manufacturing company MSI, Missouri Online and a range of private donors.
Reape explained that esports are not part of the NCAA, meaning they have to do their own fundraising. The MU group has raised $500,000 in sponsorships over the past two years to help support the program.
The competition next week will be livestreamed on Twitch.
“My involvement in esports has really supported my experience at Mizzou, because without it, I would not feel as connected with the school,” player Christian VanMeter said in an MU Division of Student Affairs news release. “My experience with the program has been great so far and I hope that we can continue to find success in the future.”
