Submitted by Centralia College
Centralia College’s new esports coach, Brent Shepherd, is already making big plans for the team. The longstanding gaming team already has a dedicated arena space in the TransAlta Commons room 339, but Shepherd wants to add a dedicated stream room so students can expand their skills and gain a wider audience.
“A designated stream room would be a place for our students to learn about shout casting. Shout casting is the esports equivalent of broadcasting a sporting event,” Shepherd explained. “This would also give the esports team a more official way to be seen through Twitch.com. Twitch is one of the main streaming platforms used in esports. By having a designated stream room, the esports team would be able to reach people across the nation and have a way to reach out to fans while giving them a high-quality product.”
In addition, Shepherd is open to expanding the team into new games. The team is already competitive in Overwatch, League of Legends, Hearthstone, Smash Ultimate, Rocket League, and Valorant, but Shepherd doesn’t want to be too limited.
“If there are games that students would like to compete in that aren’t listed, I am open to hearing other suggestions,” he said. “One game that has gotten a lot of interest is Call of Duty, which I would love to have as an option for the school and our athletes.”
Shepherd comes to CC by way of the University of Jamestown in North Dakota, where he played collegiate Overwatch and baseball. In addition to his esports coaching duties, Shepherd is a college navigator and helps all of CC’s student-athletes succeed. For example, he organizes study halls, monitors their class attendance, and helps them access campus resources.
Shepherd is now recruiting players for CC’s esports team. Any full-time student is eligible to play (even Running Start students!), and scholarship funds may be available.
“I want esports to stay as open as possible to the community of Centralia College and Washington as a whole,” he added. “Even if people do not want to compete in an esport, if they want to be a fan or learn more about it, I would love to talk to them and teach them about it.”
Contact Shepherd via email at brent.shepherd@centralia.edu or stop by CC’s esports arena in TAC 339 or the Student Life and Involvement Center in TAC 137.
