Warm-up. Practice. Review. Game. Sounds like a typical game day routine for any athlete. For Kyle Markel, that was the norm for him when he was a semi-pro esports player during the pandemic.
Since then, Markel has enrolled at San Diego State University where he has been involved with Aztec Gaming, a student organization that promotes an inclusive gaming community and esports. Merkel made his way from marketing assistant to being the president of the club as well as a member of one of the club’s esports varsity teams.
Markel is a business marketing major who understands the potential of esports and wishes to develop a complete esports program involving scholarships and esports player recruitment at SDSU. His plan began with the establishment of the Esports Engagement Center.
“I feel like SDSU can be (a school that supports esports),” Markel said. “Like, ‘Hey, we have a facility, we can do scholarships, come to our school to play these tournaments.’”
He wanted to help the club grow as much as he could and be involved in what he loves: gaming.
When he was a semi-pro for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege game, his schedule was complex. For over a year, he would wake up around noon, start warm-up at 2 p.m., practice and scrimmages from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., review teams and players from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m., then play until 3 a.m. before going to bed.
His parents did not support or go against his decision. All they asked of him was to do well in school. However, that didn’t happen.
“I lied to them about it,” Markel said.
Markel was not proud of those days, despite getting paid to play. He failed every class for a year and a half during his freshman and sophomore years in college.
Brandie Maddalena, one of Markel’s professors, recalled the first time she met him.
“I met (Markel) initially as an academic advisor,” Maddalena said. “He definitely was trying to figure out how to make his schedule work the best so that he can do all the things that he wants to do and succeed in school as well.”
Markel would often stay after class to have a conversation with her.
Whether it was in the spacious classroom or the compact space of her office, they would talk about motivation to get through his classes, the unforeseen future and leadership role.
“When he is in class, he is very sociable and kind,” Maddalena said. “And he does try, even though I know that my class is not his forte.”
Maddalena mentioned that in her Art 103 class, she gave a project management assignment that could be on anything and Markel chose to create an event for his club.
He wanted to make sure that everyone in the club was supported and felt comfortable and safe, but most importantly, how he could be a better leader.
“One of his questions that I thought was very poignant was, how as a leader, do I do (those things)?” Maddalena said.
She described him as being at the pivoting point right now.
“(He is) making choices between what he actually wants and what other people want for him,” she said.
Last semester was Markel’s first semester as the president of the club but he was able to oversee the whole event and delegate tasks accordingly when Aztec Gaming held its first competition in the ECC.
Despite some technical issues, the event was a success.
Keon Moore, the former president of Aztec Gaming who has known Markel since he was a semi-pro player, was impressed by his transition from a player to the club’s president.
“He did outreach marketing, sponsorship and actual event planning,” Moore said. “(This) was definitely something that shows his capabilities.”
Moore described Markel as energetic — at least most of the time.
But there were times that Markel snuck into the backroom of the ECC, sat flat in the chair and looked drained mentally and physically.
“I think he has this figure that he is when he’s being president,” Moore said. “And then he just wants to chillax when he is alone.”
He believed Markel still had much to learn about being a president of a club.
“Just due diligence,” Moore said.
On the other hand, Kyle Doran, the current vice president-in-training, thought Merkel was “a kind of awkward but pretty happy dude, but he also saw Markel’s passion for the gaming community.
Despite missing some deadlines, Doran said that he enjoys working alongside Markel.
“(He gives) clear instructions,” Doran praised. “(Markel) told me what I need to do, and I was able to just get it done, which is kind of one of my favorite ways to work, I must say.”
He also likes the direction the club is going under Markel’s leadership.
“He is making a lot of great strides in that direction for the club’s growth,” Doran said.
With Markel being in his fourth year at SDSU, he is also thinking about his future, aiming to use his marketing skills to build a bridge between schools and esports.
“I think that’s cool helping out smaller schools,” Markel said. “Colleges and high schools that are like, ‘Oh yeah, we want to dip our feet in the esports realm. How do we do that? How do we build that connection further?’ And I would love to do that.”
But for now, his main focus would be on an event in April that would showcase the varsity esports teams.
