The Utah Valley Esports team made their presence known at Salt Lake Gaming Con last weekend, June 27-29, at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Salt Lake Gaming Con is the sixth-largest independent gaming convention in the country, with an average of more than 45,000 attendees. The organizers tout themselves as an all-in-one hub for gamers, geeks, and pop culture fanatics everywhere.
UVU Esports is growing, and events like this help the current members network with others at the conference. The contacts range from other collegiate players, professional coaches, and other teams to set up tournaments with. In addition to players, other attendees included: casters, voice actors, and game developers.
“It's incredible to see the amount of growth and the number of players our esports organization is seeing. Our leadership has tripled since I took over as president a year and a half ago. And our teams keep improving with each tournament,” said Ethan Overbaugh, UVU Esports president.
Of Saturday night when UVU’s Rocket League team played, Overbaugh said, “They absolutely crushed it, like usual.”
There were also a number of UVU Overwatch team members that played in the Overwatch tournament.
And the Wolverines even played an exhibition match against the U.S. Army Esports team. The games played were "Splitgate" and "Rainbow Six Siege.” Each team took home a win.
Christian Perry, vice president of communications for UVU Esports, said that UVU had a combined team with Weber State for a couple of games, adding that UVU has a really good relationship with them.
“Our goal is to make UVU known for its esports program nationwide. Thanks to the hard work our teams have put in, people are starting to recognize us across the state, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. We've got 49 states to go,” Overbaugh said.
Utah Valley Esports is always looking for additional players. If you are interested, visit their site to get more information.
Our goal is to make UVU known for its esports program nationwide.
— Utah Valley Esports president Ethan Overbaugh
