On a sunny January day in Sydney, Australia, 10 University of Texas students arrived at the University of New South Wales as strangers but soon, they’d be competing as a team at the Academic Esports World Tournament.

“In the airport and while traveling we kept to ourselves, but we all started bonding right away,” said Rebekah Bailey, a senior Radio-Television-Film (RTF) major.

Though some of the students had mutual friends or knew of one another through varying degrees of separation, the team representing UT only had time for one pre-trip Zoom meeting but no in-person practice sessions or general team bonding before boarding their flights to the land down under. Once on the ground, they became fast friends.

Bailey, who’s been taking gaming courses, says that in more recent days she’s been focused on game development instead of playing. Even still, she and her twin sister, Elizabeth, jumped at the opportunity to participate in the international tournament. Other students shared this sentiment, having seen the call to participate around campus.

“We’re just a rag-tag group of people who wanted to come on this trip,” Bailey said, pointing out that the students aren’t the official Longhorns esports team. “But I think everyone was rooting for us because of that.”

Austin Espinoza, UT's esports coordinator and Alienware Longhorn Esports facilities manager, accompanied the team to Australia, alongside Ben Bays, RTF associate professor of instruction and director of Moody College of Communication’s Karch Gaming Institute. Espinoza agreed with Bailey, saying that each member of the team stepped up to the trip's challenges, using individual expertise to coach their peers and set the tone for every level of competition.

"We truly brought a uniquely diverse team," Espinoza said, referring to the wide-range of majors, academic years, ages, their overall gaming experience and skillsets."They represented Texas in such a beautiful and distinct way that honestly made us a consistent fan favorite among many other schools."

The UT team was invited to compete alongside seven other schools including the University of Technology in the Netherlands, MCI: The Entrepreneurial School in Austria and Yonsei University in Korea.

While the other participating schools were from all over the global map, UT’s team was just as diversified in student majors and fields of study.

“When we decided to put this team together, one of my priorities was making sure that we got representation from across the University,” said Bays. “So, we put out an inquiry of interest, and we got a huge response from so many different colleges. One of the reasons we selected the students from all these majors and disciplines is because I believe esports and gaming has relevance and intersections with all these different areas. I wanted to see how other people approached esports. How a mathematician thinks about it, how someone interested in government thinks about it, how a writer thinks about it, because this is a new area for us.”

Jihoon Yoon, a junior neuroscience major, says that he’s always enjoyed gaming but stopped playing as much when his schoolwork became more difficult.

“I think I've always had an interest in esports but when I came to college I got a lot busier,” Yoon said. “So, I had to stop playing games so I could keep my grades up. I just saw this as an opportunity to reconnect and because I’ve never played in a competitive environment, I thought that would be interesting.”

All the students enjoy gaming as a hobby, but the tournament requires that they think beyond the simple game play. With games and competitions including League of Legends, Rocket League, an academic debate, a business pitch and a game jam where participants develop a concept for a new game, the students had several opportunities to cultivate knowledge and skills from their respective majors.

“I asked them throughout the trip, ‘What are you thinking about this?’” Bays said. “Does this have relevance to neuroscience? Does it have relevance to mathematics? I was really surprised and delighted with how they were making those connections.”

The UT team performed well overall, beating out the other teams, some of which included professional gamers, in the game jam and Rocket League competitions.

“I knew that we were going to be up against pros, but we took a much more improvisational approach to it so winning was not our highest priority,” Bays said. “I think the biggest thing that I wanted to do was for us to be ambassadors on the world stage, for Texas and UT, and in that regard, I think we were very successful. But of course, I was rooting for them, and we did win some games. It was fun to see that they were enjoying themselves!”

Angela Walters, a senior computer science major, has participated in game jams before and has experience in game development. Walters also has prior experience in esports, having been a previous vice president of Longhorn Gaming.

“The game jam was about responding to the theme we were given and how to incorporate that throughout the game,” Walters said. “We worked on the concept throughout the tournament, and I feel like we really explained it well and had a solid plan for what it would look like.”

Walters was also designated as the team’s captain during the tournament’s opening ceremony.

“Even though we hadn’t really discussed it beforehand, I watched as all the other schools sent guys as their captains and so I decided I would step in,” Walters said, acting as the only female team captain of the tournament. “It was outside my comfort zone, and I was signing up for a lot of early morning meetings, even on days that I wasn’t competing, but I had a really great experience with our group. I’m just thankful for how well we worked together.”

She says that even though she’s not the greatest gamer, what she enjoys most about the sport is the community that games bring.

“Now I can say I know people from Norway, Korea, Austria, and that’s really cool,” Walters said.

The last dinner the teams shared together was one of the most memorable experiences for her.

“All the teams were eating together, playing games, it was such a fun evening, but it was also bittersweet because it was our goodbye,” Walters said. “It really summed up the sense of community and the friendships that we made over that time."

Odijie Okojie, a sophomore studying government with hopes of attending law school, learned about the event in Bays’ Comics and Cartoons class.

“Had you told me a few years ago that I’d be in Australia playing against pro players I would say ‘That’s absolutely insane’,” Okojie said. “For me gaming is a hobby, it’s not a profession. But I’m studying for law school, and I think esports helps with social skills and learning how to interact with so many new people.”

Okojie participated in the business pitch and academic debate competitions. He says that during the business pitch, a representative from the tech company Discord was in attendance and gave the students feedback on their ideas. The debate gave him a possible glimpse into his future practicing law.

“We debated about if we believe more institutions should support esports,” he said. “It was great practice.”

Okojie says that he would love to take more courses in gaming throughout his academic career, especially if there’s a way he can further combine esports and government.

No matter the competition, each student put their best foot forward during the trip, spending many early mornings and late nights practicing and brainstorming on how they could succeed in the day ahead. When asked why everyone worked so hard, Bailey’s answer was simple.

"I think that’s just a UT thing. We just want to be the best!”