Esports: Leveling Up Teach-Out

Kelsey Moser is a League of Legends esports personality, content creator, analyst, and current Competitive & Collegiate Development Lead for Evil Geniuses.

You’ve had a lot of roles during your esports career from Analyst, to Coach, to Academy director to now the Competitive & Collegiate Lead at Evil Geniuses. Can you give us a breakdown of what some of those roles do and your current responsibilities as Competitive & Collegiate Development lead?

As an analyst, my main role was to create and breakdown information into a format primarily digestible for a coach. This meant focusing on presentation and talking about key functions of an opponent team or player.

As a coach, I work more on player performance, optimization, and mentorship. My title of “Academy Director” was mostly just because I was Manager, Head Coach, and primary scout for my Academy team. By 100 Thieves, I was trusted to holistically run my program on the day-to-day, so a lot of hats fit into that category. I was responsible for things from ordering meals and calling Ubers to running practices and coming up with the primary strategy for match days.

I do not blame anyone for not knowing what a “Competitive & Collegiate Development Lead” is since it’s more or less a job that was designed for my skillset by EG. My main goals are education related: internal development plans for players and coaching staff for EG, but also externally running and designing education platforms that teach people about the esports ecosystem and help audiences engage more with esports. One of my main long term goals is to increase accessibility of esports titles for kids of different backgrounds, but there’s a lot to that.

What would you like to see change at the secondary education and collegiate level to better prepare hopefuls for a career in esports?

A lot. This is a hard question to answer since there are many facets. There are so many programs that classify esports as a club like an art club or an anime club. Immediately classifying esports titles as team sports opens up a lot more opportunities for funding, support, and in general changing the culture around how esports is presented to younger audiences.

What can we do to help close the diversity gaps that exist in the esports space?

This is a pretty big challenge. I think one of the biggest problems is the accessibility of home PCs. Promoting games on platforms or mobile devices makes esports more accessible as a starting point, but also being able to classify games as sports will increase funding for schools to engage in these titles. Creating more safe spaces for people new to these games to learn about them is a great starting point, but reaching those audiences is a tricky thing.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work you are doing with PlayVS Game Changers?

Right now, I am part of the mentorship program for Game Changers and will be participating in the LCS Game Changers coaching program to mentor women in games. I’m also am more involved inwith a similar program with Queer Women of Esport.

For our learners who are interested in pursuing a career in esports what are some skills you would suggest they work on? And what are some general tips you would recommend?

I hear “I want a career in esports” frequently, but the problem with this angle is that esports is a collection of career opportunities. It’s kind of like saying “I want a career in officing” or “I want a career in media.” You’re going to be way more successful building a skill and finding a way to incorporate esports as a passion into it than trying to improve esports knowledge and entering that way. Esports needs project managers and finance professionals as much as it needs players and coaches. Pursue a job in another field and find ways to use that knowledge to be a value add to the esports industry. That’s the best way to get your foot in the door.