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From right, Ian Alumbaugh, head coach and director of esports at Iowa Western, bumps fists with Jade Thornton as Tanner Williams and his teammates compete online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
Ian Alumbaugh, head coach and director of esports at Iowa Western, left, and spectators watch as Tony Merksick, right, competes online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Alumbaugh said Merksick is 7-0 in Smash Brothers on the season and is one of the top-rated players in Nebraska.
Ian Alumbaugh, head coach and director of esports at Iowa Western, top right, watches as Tanner Williams, bottom right, competes online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
From front, Iowa Western students Ayden Welch, Aaron Hlavity and Josh Griswold provide commentary and analysis on a live stream as the Iowa Western esports team competes online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
The Iowa Western Community College esports team is about halfway through its first semester of competition. The Reivers are entering the fray during the spring semester after most of its opponents started playing together in the fall.
Despite being a semester behind, the Reivers are excited about what they’ve seen this season.
“It’s went about as good as I could expect,” head coach Ian Alumbaugh said.
“Our team sports are struggling a little bit with like ‘Rainbow Six Siege’ and ‘Rocket League.’ ‘Rocket League’ is about .500. ‘Rainbow Six’ is still egging to get their first win. That was kind of expected.
“A lot of our opponents that we’ve been playing have been playing since the fall. Our guys literally met in January and had to put something together. With that our team (games) have been improving each week. Individual-wise, like our individual titles with like ‘Smash’ and ‘Call of Duty Gunfight,’ they have been doing really well. Our Gunfight team is actually undefeated and we have a ‘Smash Player’ that’s undefeated.”
The undefeated ‘Super Smash Brothers Ultimate’ player is Tony Merksick.
This is the first semester that Iowa Western has offered an esports program after the NJCAA launched the NJCAAE in 2018.
Alumbaugh was at Cowley College in 2018, where he was the head men’s and women’s bowling coach. Current Iowa Western Athletic Director Shane Larson was also at Cowley College during that time.
“That’s when I actually first heard about it,” Alumbaugh said about the 2018 NJCAAE launch. “I was at different school and I tried to form a gaming club and the athletic director at that school is the athletic director here now. He knew of my connection with esports. That’s what’s been really good with esports in our league, it basically started with a group of about 20 schools and now its well over 100.”
Iowa Western is doing all it can to set up its esports program for success. The campus has a gaming center where it competes in all its competitions that features 36 gaming computers and counsels.
Alumbaugh only hopes to keep growing the program over the next few years.
“One thing that’s really unique is there’s no limitation on the amount of teams you play per title,” he said. “Iowa Western could have two or three ‘Rocket League’ teams. That’s our plan for next year. We want to have enough to sustain multiple teams and compete. Ultimately the goal is to make playoffs and if you make the playoffs, multiple teams from your school can make the playoffs.”
Esports is played year-round, with a fall season and spring season for competition. Each player or team competes in a round-robin for the regular season, with the top competitors moving on to a single-elimination postseason.
Iowa Western has a few players that look to be in a good spot to make the postseason this year, but winning isn’t the immediate goal of the program. Alumbaugh is hoping to install a culture that leads to consistency.
“The big thing was just getting established, getting the program and everything set up for success. That’s one of the things I’ve always done is try to build of future, not build for immediacy. A lot of times that comes with building your mark, what your expectations are within a program and we were really fortunate that a couple of our students that were already on campus are already very talented at their games,” he said. “Wins and losses are nice but that’s not the expectation the first year. I want to be competitive. I want us to have a positive mindset. I want us to be optimistic about how we played, make sure we played our best. It’s a lot like any other team sports. We want to make sure that people are playing together, that we’re building our leadership.”
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From right, Ian Alumbaugh, head coach and director of esports at Iowa Western, bumps fists with Jade Thornton as Tanner Williams and his teammates compete online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
Ian Alumbaugh, head coach and director of esports at Iowa Western, left, and spectators watch as Tony Merksick, right, competes online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Alumbaugh said Merksick is 7-0 in Smash Brothers on the season and is one of the top-rated players in Nebraska.
Ian Alumbaugh, head coach and director of esports at Iowa Western, top right, watches as Tanner Williams, bottom right, competes online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
From front, Iowa Western students Ayden Welch, Aaron Hlavity and Josh Griswold provide commentary and analysis on a live stream as the Iowa Western esports team competes online with fellow college esports teams in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate at Dodge Hall on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
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