Coach Profile: Matthew Baldwin By Maverick Powell E-sports became very global and popular during Covid-19. During the lockdown people would tune in to watch the E-sports competitions. This also gave many younger audiences chances to practice during the lockdown since school was out. “I've been playing Rocket League since day one in 2015 and I'm so glad that now I can play with my buddies like Hunter Click and Mr. McClintock,” Sharp said. Baldwin never expected this, but after a couple of games our school's E-sports team became the number one E-sports team in the state and number three on the east coast side. This team will only grow bigger as the years go on. Right now we might be third in the east coast, but in three to five years we could be number one in the country due to the growing passion and growth of technology and advancements. Every new school year, new clubs and opportunities open up for students to try. Mr.Baldwin wanted to take something that is becoming more and more popular everyday, especially in this younger generation. E-Sports gaming is where people get online and compete against other people in the same video game. The E-sports team consists of two games right now such as Mario Kart World and Rocket League. “So I've been playing Mario Kart since I was like two, and I feel like if you have enough training, then you can be anything you want to be,” Taylor said. “We've had a team down at the iLearn Academy in Central Office for the past couple years. When I was down there for training I noticed it and asked them what kind of games they were playing. They let me know they were having trouble fielding a team. And I'm interested in that stuff. They're playing two of my favorite games. Right now we're doing Mario Kart. Currently, as of November the 4th, we are number 12 in the Eastern Time Zone. Our Rocket League team is currently number four in the Eastern Time Zone, number one in the state. There's about 60-something teams in our Mario Kart League and 70-something in our Rocket League team” Baldwin said. Baldwin is the Audio Visual and Media teacher and is not new to the teaching program. He has a vision for a future where students have hands-on activity with technology, as that is what the future is coming to. “We have the capability to do all the sports games in all the E-sports games... and I'm interested in building a team and getting as many kids interested and out there as we can. E-sports is a growing field. Lots of colleges are offering scholarships to players for teams and so we're trying to create additional opportunities for our students to have additional funding or purpose or reason to attend college. And once you get them in there, it's a lot easier to find a major in a job and things of that nature so whatever we gotta do to get them to wanna go and so we're looking to add really anything that we can add,” Baldwin said. Baldwin is looking at taking this program and making it the best this school has ever seen. “There's about ten or twelve games we have to choose from on the platform we're using so we'll feel we're gonna feel the smash brothers team in the spring and a uh... probably an NBA 2k team in the spring well thank you coach Baldwin I wanna plug my players real quick I started this because Hunter Click expressed an interest in it. He's been a good guy for me, and I want to help a brother out. Collin Sharp, Hunter Click, James McClintock, and Luke Reed have been my Rocket League guys. All those guys play other sports. They understand commitment and seeing something through, and I appreciate them finding time, and they're scheduled to do that, and they've had a lot of success out there. We're trying to build that program just like we're trying to build anything else. We got a couple iLearn kids running. We got one kid, Sam, who's excellent in Mario Kart,” Baldwin said. Baldwin doesn't just do this for the fun of gaming and bringing kids together, he does this because he wants kids to have a bright future. “Colleges are often scholarships for this this is something kids do in their free time anyway playing video games and stuff so I don't understand it's not any different than basketball, football, soccer, something like that so there's opportunities to the next level and you don't have to be a great athlete you don't have to you just gotta be good at a game,” Baldwin said.