Outside the Lines of Code: Joel Rosado, Josh Stegall & Bishop McDevitt Esports – January 2022

Emerald Esports recognizes the positive impact gaming has on a community as a whole.  In this series, Outside the Lines of Code, we highlight the individuals, teams and clubs effecting change, building community relationships, and spreading the positivity of utilizing video games in education.  Venture outside the realm of gameplay and join in the “in real life” relationships, stories of inspiration, and the results of utilizing video games as a vehicle for learning, teamwork and collaboration.

For Joel Rosado, playing on a sports team in high school was a goal for him. Joel attended Bishop McDevitt High School where he found his love for team sports as a wrestler.  However, during his wrestling season, he suffered an injury that did not allow him to continue competing on the mats or change to a new physical sport.  Around the same time, Emerald Esports worked with Josh Stegall to launch the eSports club at Bishop McDevitt High School.  Joel’s sliding door moment decision to join the team resulted in a new path playing sports without the risk of exacerbating his injury.  Joel excelled at both League of Legends and Overwatch for Bishop McDevitt, competing with his team and winning a few Emerald Esports Extravaganza tournaments held at the Emerald Foundation (pre-pandemic).  Joel and his team took their competition further to reach the semifinals in 2019 for the Overwatch High School Scholastic Tournament.  Their team took 2nd place among all the high school teams on the east coast, a huge accomplishment and boost in confidence for not only Joel and his teammates but also the entire Bishop McDevitt school community.  An additional opportunity surfaced for Joel while participating in these eSports tournaments at the Emerald Foundation.  He dipped his toes into sportscasting for a couple of matches, which ultimately influenced his direction for future study post high school.  He began watching professional eSports casters, including one of the most well-known, Clayton Raines, aka Captainflowers, who Joel says inspires him to be energetic, enthusiastic as well as true to oneself.

Joel’s coach at Bishop McDevitt, Josh Stegall has been the eSports manager for four years.  He expressed in so many words it has been beautiful seeing these kids like Joel, who tend to be on the quieter side, join the team and over the course of one season see them blossom into confident and effective communicators.  It’s no surprise really to see the positive changes in these kids when a talented coach/manager/mentor, such as Josh, stresses above all else in their practices/competitions the importance of great communication.  He says that as long as they communicate with each other to the best of their abilities, he is proud of them.  Win or lose, as long as they play as a team, that is what is most important.  This is the bigger picture in implementing eSports programs in schools.  It’s not necessarily about the gaming. Like any sport, it’s about the experiences and lessons learned from the gaming.  It’s the improvement in collaboration, teamwork, and communication that can set students up for success in any career path. Whether it amounts to an eSports collegiate scholarship, a job in the eSports industry, in being a friendly neighborhood business owner, corporate executive, or overall awesome human being, the professional and social skills learned participating in an eSports program can make a huge impact.

Catching up with Joel present day, he has since graduated from Bishop McDevitt and attends Penn State Main Campus.  It is impressive to see a young adult who has set a path for himself that doesn’t just focus on gaming.  Even with his talent to play the games, he has decided that playing for the Penn State Esports team is not part of his path.  He acknowledges his love for eSports but also has the maturity to understand that being a collegiate eSports player, requiring a large time commitment, would conflict with his true life pursuit of becoming an eSports caster.  Joel is an education major but focusing on a sportscasting and public speaking curriculum.  He has also devoted time to the Penn State Anime Organization (PSAO) where he is their Gaming Director.  Joel helps to run the eSports tournament at the annual Setsucon, a two-day anime convention.  The eSports tournament uses the entry fees for the tournament to donate to a charity of choice, this year going to NAMI, the National Association for Mental Illness.  These college students are beyond just playing competitive video games and are making a difference in others’ lives, giving back to a community, and spreading the positivity of gaming. Cheers to Joel and the PSAO for supporting and making a positive impact on others lives.  This is exactly what Riot Games, Joel’s dream job company, would get behind.  Post PSU graduation, Joel’s goal is to be an employee of Riot Games, a company he says he respects for its robustness and diverse environment.  Riot Games has been included on several of Fortune’s “Best Of” lists including “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” Riot Games is best known for creating the eSports game, League of Legends, the most played PC game in the world, and one of Joel’s games of choice.

When asked how eSports has most impacted his life Joel responded with “Participating in eSports helped me realize that no matter what my passion is I can sustain it, I can love it, I can make this a permanent part of my life.”

Just to add an additional layer of awesomeness to this story, it can’t go without mention that Joel takes time out of his busy college schedule to mentor his younger brother, Dimetris, who is currently attending Bishop McDevitt High School and an integral part of their eSports team.

Follow Joel Rosado on Twitch:  ravenresme

To follow Bishop McDevitt and support their eSports program visit their platforms here:

Instagram: @bishop_mcdevitt

Twitter:  @McD_esports

Twitch: @ McDtheCru

Interested in launching an eSports club at your school or community center?  Visit Emerald Esports Club Registration page to get started:  https://esports.emeralde.org/esports-clubs/registration/

Follow Emerald Esports:

Facebook: @emeraldesports

Instagram: @emerald.fdn.esports

Twitter:  @emeraldesports

Twitch: @emerald_esports