UCI Esports’ New Jerseys Revealed!


by | Mar 22, 2019, 6:00AM PDT

As our scholarship teams enter playoffs, we are excited to unveil our new jerseys for the current season. The new 2019 jerseys feature two variants – one for home games and one for away. Design efforts were headed by our Digital Marketing Intern, Nick Gasparyan, with support from fellow intern Allison Le (League of Legends and graphic design team manager) and design help from Dishanth Shankar Reddy (student graphic designer).

Together, Nick and Allison brainstormed ideas for the new jersey using a Pinterest board to correlate ideas, taking inspiration from other esports jerseys and experimenting color swatches. These ideas were then passed around to multiple people and some minor alterations were made – most notably from the input of Sebastian “Selectt” Vasquez, UCI Esport’s very own Overwatch scholarship team player. At the end of the brainstorming process, all was taken to Dishanth, who then brought the initial designs and their variations to the drawing board.

In an interview with Nick, he revealed that he wanted to create a new jersey that was “cool, innovative, and different”. He noted that as of now, there are few jersey companies that specifically cater towards esports collegiate programs. As a result, there is little room for more innovative designs to be produced by the companies themselves. Seeking to alter this trend, Nick decided to take action to move UCI Esports in a direction that would make us stand out from the rest.

One of the main issues Nick encountered was the actual rendering of the jersey design onto a feasible print file. As a solution, he worked with Archon Clothing (our current jersey sponsor) to bring the designs to life.

Moving from the 2018 design to the new, Nick noted that an aspect of the previous design he enjoyed was the sponsor logos being displayed on the sleeves. This element was reimplemented into the new design, albeit on a smaller scale. This was done to make it easier to capture the logos on camera during events, as compared to stretching out the logos, which would make them harder to recognize from a distance. “[This way] our sponsors can get the attention they need.”

Another choice detail on the new design worth mentioning is the new strip on the jersey that displays the in-game name of the player. Compared to previous designs that only displayed in-game names on the back, the design now boasts the names in front as well. This gives even more attention to the players’ identities, as cameras can easily capture both the players’ faces as well as their in-game names. Nick notes that the main inspiration for this change was the designs of Overwatch League/Contenders jerseys. “It gives them more of an identity of where they are on the team. You don’t only know their name, you know how they play, and what to expect.”

Next time you visit the UCI Esports Arena, be sure to check out the jersey wall and see for yourself how the designs have transformed over the years. You might even see the newest design being sported by our very own scholarship teams!

UCI Esports Player Rosters For 2022-2023


by | Dec 14, 2022, 10:13PM PDT

Between big roster changes and the addition of an entirely new varsity team, UCI Esports is hyped to present the collegiate players that will represent our organization in the coming tournaments this year! If you’ve been following us on social media, our teams have been teased in multiple posts over the past few months. In preparation for their respective national championships in January, we are excited to officially introduce our team rosters for the 2022-2023 academic year!


LEAGUE OF LEGENDS:

  • Coach – David “HermesTheTurtle” Tu 

VARSITY:

  • TOP – Minh “Elated” Pham
  • JUNGLE – Mike “MikeYeung” Yeung
  • MID – Ben “CinnamonBread” Chang
  • ADC – Alex “Gorica” Gorica
  • SUPPORT – Brett “Lightpulse” Narkiewicz

JUNIOR VARSITY:

  • TOP- Long “Gino” Do
  • JUNGLE – Sam “Glorias” Chen
  • MID – Donovin “Debounair” Boun
  • ADC –  Andrew “Misterdot” Liu
  • SUPPORT – Ryan “Sliggins” Gilson

OVERWATCH 2:

  • COACH – Michael “TheRealThe” Kuhns
  • DPS – Michael “Excal” Kim
  • DPS – Cyrus “cyy” Buffington
  • DPS – Zuhair “Zeerocious” Taleb
  • TANK – Jonathan “Light” Chao
  • TANK – Sean “Romani” Cook
  • SUPPORT – Mitsutoshi “Supreme” Sato
  • SUPPORT – Dimitrios “Otters” Karanikas
  • SUPPORT – Bruno “KapGod” Moebest

VALORANT: 

  • COACH – Vishal Rohit “CurryShot” Nathani
  • DUELIST / IGL – Munkhdul “plat1num” Baterdene
  • INITIATOR – Ivan “Sylph” Tran
  • INITIATOR – Richie “Richie” Tran
  • INITIATOR – Fiona “fifi” Lin
  • SENTINEL – Bradley “Cowpie865” Lacy
  • CONTROLLER – Kyle “kyle” Tyni
  • FLEX – Kyle “fwlo” Van

The University of California Esports Initiative (UCEI)  is an ongoing esports partnership between the different UC campuses, and their biggest annual event is coming soon! The UCEI Invitationals presented by Xfinity is right around the corner- set for January 13th-15th- and will feature all the rosters you see above in their respective games! Be sure to tune in on our Twitch channel at twitch.tv/uciesports when the time comes to watch our players duke it out against their rivaling UC counterparts!

UCI Esports Introduces Valorant Head Coach: CurryShot!


by | Nov 22, 2022, 11:37PM PDT

This year UCI Esports is proud to announce our very own Valorant team, the latest addition to our existing esports scholarship program! As excited as we were to venture into the inaugural collegiate Valorant season, we knew we needed a coach to do it right. Hence why we proudly present Rohit “CurryShot” Nathani as our latest hire as Valorant Head Coach! 

You may recognize CurryShot for his time coaching Overwatch as the former Strategic Coach from Mayhem Academy, Guangzhou Charge, and the Los Angeles Gladiators. More recently, CurryShot has been embracing Valorant and worked with multiple teams to find their footing in the fresh title.

“I’m very excited for the opportunity to coach the UCI Valorant team. Valorant is a game I’m really passionate about and I think our team can go far this season. I can’t wait to get started and I want to cultivate a culture that’s healthy and brings wins. I want us to work hard to surpass expectations and thrive in this title like UCI does in all their titles.”

Rohit “CurryShot” Nathani

The season has already started and the UCI Esports’ Valorant team currently stands in the Top 16 in the Western Conference. Make sure to support Curryshot and the players by tuning in to our UCI Esports Twitch to watch our Valorant games on Saturdays at 3:00pm PT!

Community Engagement Coordinator: Jamel Hopkins!


by | Aug 1, 2022, 12:18PM PDT

Whether you’re sieging towers, rushing sites, or pushing payloads, it’s your teammates that largely determine the course of the game. The community with which you surround yourself with is central to the gaming experience, in-game and out. Therefore, it is with great excitement that we announce Jamel “Aespirin” Hopkins, former shoutcaster and student staffer, will be joining the program full-time as our first-ever Community Engagement Coordinator.

Jamel will play an essential role for the program by connecting UCI Esports to the greater gaming community. As a primary liaison of the program, they will help to encourage and foster relations with other gaming spaces of all scopes, high school students, local UCI clubs, UCI alumni, and the national college esports community as a whole.

“As we have evolved as a program and adjusted to a world with COVID-19, we see a tremendous opportunity to use games and esports to re-engage our communities as we come back together in person. Our new Community Coordinator will play a vital role, connecting us more closely with UCI clubs, high school students, and our local community.”

– Mark Deppe, UCI Esports Director

“I’m ecstatic for this opportunity to give back to UCI Esports and the gaming community! In stepping into the role, my goal is to make our program a central hub on campus for students to call home like I have for years. I want our arena to brighten campus. Every student should feel safe and welcome here. I want everyone on campus to come here and get to know us, know each other.”

– Jamel Hopkins, Community Engagement Coordinator

The establishment of this new position at UCI Esports marks an exciting venture in the program’s ongoing commitment to building bridges between our local campus community and beyond. We are more than excited to have Jamel on board once more and look forward to witnessing his continued impact on the program!