Kyle Maddison

Tell us a bit about yourself, your background etc?
I started playing games when I was really young, and I loved it. My parents kept asking me what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be, and I didn’t know, so I looked into Gaming Technology, and Game Design. I started a course in Game Design, but I wasn’t really enjoying it, and then my friend told me about the new Esports course and it sounded like it would fit me better so I enrolled as quickly as I could.

How would you describe the advice and support you received from your tutors?
I've had some very good advice from my tutors. Keith, my lecturer, is the one who encouraged me to get a job with the Newcastle United Foundation, where I’m currently working as a Community Coach. He said it was a great opportunity and that I’d be really good at it, so I started volunteering there last summer, and then they started offering me a few hours paid work here and there, which has gradually increased to the point where I’m running kids’ parties most Saturdays and after school clubs a few times a week.

What did you enjoy most about your course?
I find the strategic side of Esports really interesting; where you learn how an actual pro player plays, the requirements, how much work and effort it takes to actually become a professional player. It's so much more than just playing computer games. If you think about a football player, that’s a full-time job, right? Well an Esports player is no different. They train and adapt, and practice. It's exactly the same thing.

What would you like to do when you finish your course?
I’m definitely going to stay on at the Foundation to keep running the kids’ parties and family sessions. We’ve also got HADO here, which is Virtual Reality Dodgeball. It’s huge in Japan but only just taking off here. I’m going to be running family sessions on that with one of the other Community Coaches here, and we’ll see where that takes us!

What are your ambitions for the future?
Originally I wanted to be an Esports professional, competing in tournaments and playing with a professional team. However, since I’ve joined the Foundation, I’ve been really enjoying coaching and teaching other people how to play games. The great thing about Esports is that it’s a relatively new area, so there are a lot of opportunities where something new could come in and just take off, such as HADO; who knows how big that could get in the UK.

What would you say to anyone thinking of studying a course with Newcastle College?
I'd say go for it, especially the Esports course because it’s already improved massively in this last year since it launched, so I know it’s going to keep getting better. The tutors are fantastic and the industry links are brilliant.