Winthrop University Esports
Josh Sides is currently the head esports coach at Winthrop University, located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Sides started coaching the Eagles on April 16, 2019. However, Sides’ passion for coaching and esports came long before 2019. In fact, Sides expressed that he was always a big fan of gaming growing up.
“Gaming was a big part of my family. [Gaming was] something that my siblings and I liked to do with each other. I was playing video games, as soon as I could hold a controller. Then, I spent my college years watching esports and I became a big fan,” said Sides.
Sides grew up loving and playing traditional sports. But, he always knew that he didn’t want to be just a player, but a coach too.
“I always wanted to get involved at a coaching level. All of my role models are coaches. But, if you don't play any sports past the highschool level, it's pretty hard to get into coaching traditional sports,” said Sides, “I have a lot of leadership training. When I saw that schools were hiring for esports head coaches, I thought that could be something that I could do really well.”
It was never necessarily Sides’ goal to be an esports coach, but the opportunity presented itself and he took advantage of it. Sides expressed that if he didn’t send his resume and application to different schools, he would have always wondered “what if”.
What made you decide on Winthrop University?
“So at the time, I was at St. Ambrose, which was the first school that I went to. The decision to come to Winthrop was based on the passion the Winthrop administrators had for the program that they wanted to build here,” said Sides, “The proximity to where I'm from is about an hour and a half away from Winthrop too. So, I am close to the region. [Winthrop administration] also seemed to really be on board with my vision for the program.”
Since Sides has been at Winthrop, he has seen major growth in his team. This year the team consists of 38 players. In 2020 there were 26 players, and the year before that there were only 15.
What does the upcoming season look like for you and your team?
“It's different for each of the teams. For League of Legends, we just won the national championship. So there's a big target on our back to go out, compete and achieve highly again. So, there's that added anxiety and pressure,” said Sides, “With the Rocket League team, we have some new faces. It will be interesting to see how they transition into a brand new team.”
“We haven't competed in Overwatch in over a year. So we're reforming the team. The landscape has gotten way more competitive in the time since the last time when we were competing,” said Sides, “Meanwhile Valorant is brand new so we will see what we can do.”
Winthrop’s esports started their 3rd year as a team in August of 2021.
Are your players excited for the year coming up?
“I mean, those guys just love to have fun. We want to make some noise and smash. The goal is to make this as fun for [the players] as possible. We want to win championships and compete at the highest level. That goes for all of the teams,” said Sides.
How did your players prepare for the Collegiate Esports National Championship (CENC)?
“We took the CENC like any other tournament. When we got the bracket we thought it would be a pretty tough path, which was accurate in the semi-finals,” said Sides, “There was always the belief that we could go in there and knock those two top dogs off and actually win it. We're definitely not considered on the same level as Northwood for Rocket League; but if you talk to our team, they will tell you they always knew that we would win.”
Have any specific players stood out to you with their growth?
“I've got players that I'm going into my fourth year with that came from St. Ambrose. They are completely different than when we first were able to get them [to Winthrop]. One player went from being super introverted living on a friend's couch and working at Walmart, to being a team leader now. He has a path and goals. He has an idea of what he wants to do with his life now,” said Sides.
The former Walmart employee is not the only player that has shown growth. Sides expressed that every single player on the team has improved in one way or another.
“All of the players that come here improve as people,” said Sides, “We want to have the best people possible that we can. So everybody who comes through our team, leaves as a better person. That is our ultimate goal.”
What is the most challenging part of being an esports coach?
“Definitely the work life balance and all of the hours. People don't really know the day in the life of an esports coach. It's a lot of putting out fires, managing, recruiting and more. Sometimes I work from 70-80 hours per week. It's hard to maintain healthy relationships outside of work. But that’s what you have to do to compete at the highest level,” explained Sides.
What advice would you give to people who are thinking about getting into esports?
“Find leagues and compete in them. That's the most important thing,” said Sides, “Pick one game that you're good at, pick one role in that game, specialize yourself so that you can stand out and demonstrate your worth. Find ways to compete, if that's with your friends, at local tournaments, online tournaments, find people on discord, find people on Twitter, try out for teams, join teams, just compete as much as you can and get experience. That's how you will get noticed and found. It doesn’t matter so much what level you are. Those things demonstrate so much more value to someone in recruiting. So, I would say just find competition, seek out competition.”
Until next time,
Mia White
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