Podcasts about gamers outreach

This week, Mel spills the beans on how her cats became internet sensations after being shared on a renowned Facebook page. Next, buckle up as Miranda delves into the perplexing world of video game ratings. Discover why it's crucial for parents to decipher those cryptic symbols and understand what exactly they mean for their kids' gaming experiences. But wait, there's more! Ever wondered what causes those pesky hiccups that always seem to strike at the most inconvenient moments?Fear not, as Mel unravels the mystery behind these diaphragm disturbances with humor and curiosity, and maybe a remedy that actually works! You won't want to miss a minute of the laughter as the Gal Pals tackle life's quirkiest challenges with wit and wisdom!Spotlight:Gamer's Outreachhttps://gamersoutreach.org/Gamers Outreach is a charity that empowers hospitalized children through video games. They're building a world where play is easily prioritized alongside research and treatment!Sources:Mel-https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkasprak/things-you-never-knew-about-hiccups https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19544084/what-causes-hiccupsMiranda-https://engagedfamilygaming.com/parent-resources/the-esrb-rating-system-what-parents-need-to-know/https://www.esrb.org/about/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Imp And Skizz podcast, we recap the amazing Gamers Outreach Charity event!►Want to be a part of the live pre-show? Become a sponsor over at Glimpse to join us before we jump into our recording. Hang out with us while we dial in our equipment and be the first to find out what that day's recordings are going to be about! Perhaps even offer some of your own insight before we get started!https://www.glimpse.me/impandskizz►Listen to this podcast on all major podcast platforms:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2030783/14916257►Subscribe to the new Imp And Skizz Podcast channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCenRWz4J0b46-z41N-nly1A►OUR LINKS!Imp And Skizz YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/impandskizzImp And Skizz Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imp.and.skizz/Imp And Skizz Twitter: https://twitter.com/impandskizzImpulse's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/impulsesvSkizzleman's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/mcskizzleman►SPECIAL THANKS TO"Imp&Skizz Podcast" jingle by Richard Thornton:  @RichardThornton  Podcast Logo by jsonlart: https://twitter.com/jasonlicariart

A vet sends an amusing letter to a cat named Loki, making vaccination sound appealing; Scientists successfully transfer a rhinoceros embryo, instilling hope for the endangered northern white rhinos' survival; a non-profit group, Gamers Outreach, brings joy to hospitalized children through a portable gaming kiosk; the mystery of Ancient Roman dodecahedrons continues to puzzle experts; and plans for what could be the tallest building in America, Legends Tower, are submitted in Oklahoma City.A Cat's Letter from the VetReviving the Northern White RhinoGaming for Hospitalized ChildrenMysterious Roman DodecahedronsOklahoma's Sky-High Ambitions

Combining a gaming charity can only mean good things! Meet Zach Wigal. Founder of Gamer's Outreach, a charity that empowers hospitalized families through play. They make video game carts for hospitals that help patients feel a little bit like other gamers while hospitalized. If that's not enough to keep one busy, Zach also is part owner of Detroit Pizza Depot in LA that brings that Detroit style pizza to the west coast. Enjoy Zach's story and hear about some of the celebrities that believe in Gamer's Outreach. https://twitter.com/ZachWigal https://twitter.com/GamersOutreach https://gamersoutreach.org/ https://twitter.com/DetroitPizzas https://www.detroitpizzadepot.com/ https://linktr.ee/Tarducks https://www.youtube.com/c/TarducksPodcast https://twitter.com/tarducks https://www.twitch.tv/tarducks https://www.tiktok.com/@tarduck.pod https://ethosthreads.com/search?q=tarducks&type=product --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tarducks-podcast/support

Our last episode was pretty heavy, so this week marks a return to one of our favorite (and fairly light-hearted) topics: streaming TV! YouTube TV is raising its price from $65 to $72.99, citing the rising costs of content. We talk about how the streaming business model is totally different from the broadcast model, and why much of the power resides in the hands of the viewer. Shelly shares a few tips on how to ditch your landline and cut the cord once and for all. We talk about what we have been watching, like Poker Face and Picard. Seth shares some details about his participation this week in Gamers Outreach.

On this week's episode, Darci is joined by show producer Raimee to introduce a *brand new* segment, the Career Column, where Darci tells workplace horror stories she received in her DMs from followers.  Then, Darci is joined by Zach Wigal during this week's interview, who is the founder of Gamers Outreach Foundation and Detroit Pizza Depot. Gamers Outreach provides video games to hospitals to restore a sense of joy and normalcy in the lives of hospitalized children. Detroit Pizza Depot is a red-hot Detroit-style pizza joint that just opened in Los Angeles in September 2022 (WARNING: you will get hungry). LINKS:Follow the Down & Dirty pod on IG: instagram.com/thedownanddirtypodcastSubscribe to the Down & Dirty pod on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@downanddirtypod Follow Darci on IG: instagram.com/careercoachdarciFollow Zach on IG: https://www.instagram.com/zachwigal/ Follow Zach on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZachWigal Follow Gamers Outreach on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gamersoutreach/ Check out Gamers Outreach and Donate: https://gamersoutreach.org/ Follow Detroit Pizza Depot on IG: https://www.instagram.com/detroitpizzas/Zach's LA restaurant picks:OtiumBestiaFactory KitchenBavelasteridBrought to you by onomy: Check out onomy: https://onomy.co/Follow onomy on IG: instagram.com/onomy.co

When a monster goes cyberpycho who are you gunna call? Maxtac, the team has been called in because a Cybermas telethon has gone horrible wrong. This was a charity stream to support Gamers Outreach. Fundraiser for Gamers OutreachGamers Outreach is a charity that empowers hospitalized children through video games. They're building a world where play is easily prioritized alongside research and treatment. Donate here: https://donate.tiltify.com/@savesvsdeath/gamersoutreachfundraiserSaves vs Death is a TTRPG Actual Play and Podcast. We stream Saturdays at 10:00pm ET on Twitch.https://www.twitch.tv/savesvsdeathJoin us on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Ug0U85DnGeWtnpmYyX9aAPick up R. Talsorians latest DLC!https://rtalsoriangames.com/downloads/Help us out with Patreon!https://www.patreon.com/savesvsdeathFor Your Weekly Recaps Check:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLxnWy1CcNs&list=PLb5NosWNOHY0XzNaIHPL5Ga2QPEuXRz9tChat with us on discord!https://discord.gg/rbrb6tuGj7Cyberpunk Redhttps://rtalsoriangames.com/cyberpunk/Join us on social media!https://twitter.com/SavesVsDeathhttps://www.facebook.com/Saves-Vs-Deathhttps://www.instagram.com/savesvsdeath/https://www.reddit.com/r/savesvsdeath/Music used under Creative Commons provided byKarl Casey @ White Bat AudioCheck our their work athttps://www.youtube.com/c/WhiteBatAudioMusic/ Instrumental by teknoaxehttps://www.youtube.com/c/teknoaxeand also this guy:Music / Instrumental by Aries Beatshttps://www.youtube.com/c/AriesBeatsand lastly this guy:Music / Instrumental by Dar Golanhttps://www.youtube.com/c/DarGolanSaves Vs Death is unofficial content provided under the Homebrew Content Policy of R. Talsorian Games and is not approved or endorsed by RTG. This content references materials that are the property of R. Talsorian Games and its licensees.

SOL Citizens presents "The Day the Earth Stood Still" radio play for charity stream for Gamers Outreach with voice acting by Star Citizen content creators! You can help provide games to hospitalized kids! https://tiltify.com/@solcitizens/sol-citizens-charity-livestream Merchandise: Design by Humans: https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/SOLCitizens/ Streamlabs: https://streamlabs.com/solcitizens/merch SOL CITIZENS are supporters and backers covering the development of Cloud Imperium Games upcoming games "STAR CITIZEN" and "SQUADRON 42". Patreon: patreon/solcitizens Twitch: twitch.tv/solcitizens Twitter: twitter.com/solcitizens Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/solcitizens

Hello and welcome back to The PM Shift by HospitalityMD, hospitality's only evening live show. This episode features the wonderful Christine Trippi of The Wise Pineapple. Join us as we laugh through our technical difficulties and learn knowledge bombs from Christine. Head over to www.thewisepineapple.com to stay up to date with Christine's weekly newsletter and to learn more about The Crown Society. Be sure to subscribe to us on YouTube and turn on notifications so you never miss a live show! www.youtube.com/c/hospitalitymd Donate to Gamers Outreach here: https://donate.tiltify.com/@gregfreg/hospitalitymd2022 and be sure to join us on 10/30/2022 at 6pm on YouTube while we play some games and raise money for charity. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hospitalitymd/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hospitalitymd/support

Welcome to episode 46! While Aaron was out being dad of the year, we had a special guest host, MickeyG44! We started things off with Mickey giving us his background as a gamer and streamer, then we pivoted to this week's gaming news. We discussed Splatoon 3's place in the shooter genre, the state of Minecraft, the It Takes Two movie, a kid refusing to talk to his mom because of Call of Duty, and much more!Find Mickey on Twitch at twitch.tv/mickeyg44 and be sure to tune in to his 24 hour charity stream on May 16!To support Gamers Outreach directly, go to: https://gamersoutreach.org/donate/

In this episode, with special guests Truman Wilson (Founder of The Truman Factory and the Gen Z Wonka) and Derek Wilson (CEO of The Truman Factory), we discuss Truman launching his candy company at the age of 14, the organization partnering with Gamers Outreach, creating a culture "where the young help the young", connecting software to candy, competing against Mr Beast, and so much more!

We noticed a familiar face on a super slick new Xbox ad! Bert's Big Adventure kid Jordan is the face of this commercial for "Beyond Xbox: A Player Like Me"!This is the story of Jordan, a 14-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia, who suffers from an extremely rare strain of Elhers Danlos Syndrome. But thanks to the power of gaming and the support from Gamers Outreach, he was introduced to a very special person on the other side of the Atlantic. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-bert-show.

Zach Wigal, founder of Gamers Outreach, stops by to catch us up on what he's be up to since Episode 500. It includes pizza.

Box Office Talk - Old ends up at #1 with just 16.5 million, Snake Eyes is 2nd with 13.5 mill - Black Widow and Fast 9 plummets week to week so big first weeks and a drop off why? - Why Aren't People going to the movies as much Covid or Woke or Movies just aren't written well Kanye West- Donda Album - Is this the return of Kanye West musically with the Donda performance breaking Apple Music live streaming records - Is it due to his breakup if this is a hit and what is the correlation between pain and good music - Kanye is staying at Mercedes Benz stadium is that a good sign or bad Rolling Loud - - Coi Leray with the silent crowd! Is it her lack of talent or has she lost what made her get famous - T-Pain, Wale emerge as crowd favorites with strong Uzi and others backing are older artists more concert drove - Da Baby had an adida thrown at him and brings out Torey Lanez Content Creation - Former 100 Thieves Twitch star Froste had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Gamers Outreach, blowing his $50,000 goal out of the water. However, PayPal has shut it all down, blocking the streamer's account and he's taking them to court to contest it. - Nearly 1,000 current and former Activision Blizzard employees have signed an open letter decrying the company's responses to the recent Californian civil lawsuit which alleges discrimination in the workplace. Football - Aaron Rodgers is apparently returning to the Packers with GB giving concessions to please the Pro Bowl QB If Packers' officials sign off on their willingness to trade Aaron Rodgers, and the agreement is finalized soon, here's the biggest concession the reigning MVP will receive: the freedom to decide where he wants to play in 2022. - Texans are fielding offers for Deshaun Watson! Team USA struggles - The Olympics overall not looking good for us - Is it the players, coaching, or how the team is put together - Fiba Rules or NBA Rules (Which is a better product and which is real basketball) NBA Offseason - Do We expect a lot of trades - Biggest shock and move - Ben Simmons not answering the 76ers calls (allegedly these reports are from suspect websites) - Memphis is finalizing a trade to send Jonas Valanciunas and 2021 Nos. 17 and 51 picks to New Orleans for Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe, 2021 picks Nos. 10 and 40 and a protected 2022 first-round pick via the Lakers this creates salary cap to resign Lonzo Ball UFC - Kamaru Usman will meet Colby Covington in a welterweight title rematch at UFC 268 in November Podcast, Books, Merch, and more in the Link Below: https://twitter.com/99_Zelmae https://www.instagram.com/99_zelmae/ https://linktr.ee/Zelmae Host: https://twitter.com/uniqo_williams https://www.facebook.com/UniqoWilliams/ https://www.instagram.com/uniqowilliams/ https://www.twitter.com/Kidcreatedplaya https://www.instagram.com/KidCreatedPlaya --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/99media/support

Ben invites Samantha Robertell (@spammantha) to talk about first jobs, working with charities, and having very strange dreams.Gaming Community Expo '21 Tickets and Information: https://www.gcxevent.com/ Giveaways here: https://loot.raredrop.co/Join the Loot Pool:https://patreon.com/raredropBroman and Rare Drop merch now available here:https://shop.raredrop.co/Love Coffee? Check out Kings Coast Coffee Co.:https://kingscoast.coffeeFollow me on Twitch:ProfessorBromanFollow me on Twitter:@ProfessorBromanFollow me on Insta:ProfessorBromanSubscribe on YouTube:Broman

Competitive Esports tournaments for baseball, hockey, basketball and football have been rising in popularity but golf has yet to join the party. Until now. Charlie Watson, CEO of Tiidal Gaming and Lazarus Esports join us to discuss The #VIRLShowdown, which is North America's first competitive Esports Golf Event. https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/1/1ea879c1-a4a2-4e10-bea4-e5d8368a3c7a/eyYTaK9K.png (https://virl.bc.ca/esportsshowdown/) Want to enter but don't live on Vancouver Island? The #VIRLShowdown is the first of what will be many larger scale tournaments that Lazarus Esports will be rolling out, so your chance to participate will be coming soon! Click on the image below to check out our extended conversation with Charlie on our Youtube Channel (https://youtu.be/_AlH1SVBzXg)! https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/1/1ea879c1-a4a2-4e10-bea4-e5d8368a3c7a/pfSaEBS-.jpg (https://youtu.be/_AlH1SVBzXg) You can learn more about Lazarus Esports and connect with Charlie on his bio page (https://modgolf.fireside.fm/guests/charlie-watson). The #VIRLShowdown finals took place on May 3rd 2021 and we are excited to be part of future Golf Esports tournaments! https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/1/1ea879c1-a4a2-4e10-bea4-e5d8368a3c7a/fESdkZSp.jpg You can find out more about Lazarus Esports by visiting their website (https://lazarus.gg/) https://files.fireside.fm/file/fireside-uploads/images/1/1ea879c1-a4a2-4e10-bea4-e5d8368a3c7a/eCdcS2TD.png (https://lazarus.gg/) Show Notes and Charlie Quotes "Gaming has that massive ability to heal and to bring people together. That is what this event and eSports is all about. There are no limits, there is no bounds. I can play with someone in Asia, Africa, South America or someone that is just down the road from me and that's the power of gaming and eSports.' "You see livestreams that have 700,000 viewers just for their three hour broadcasts, so it's just phenomenal to see what's happening in our industry. I've been in this industry for twelve years now and in many ways I feel like I'm late to it, but the great thing is there's so much creation and innovation happening so you're absolutely not late joining the party. We have a lot of room in the sandbox for people to come in and play." "Adopting the creative play and the freedom of expression of eSports will take an older demographic game like golf and bring it towards a younger audience. That will increase the user base, viewership, content creation, social marketing, the word of mouth and really start to get kids excited about golf again." About Lazarus Lazarus Esports “LZR” is Canada’s first established esports team in 2010. They are a professional esports and entertainment organization dedicated to industry growth, developing the Canadian market, fostering amateurs to compete at the highest level & supporting professional gamers and content creators at the highest level for greater success. LZR is currently ranked 1st in Canada, 10th in North America and 29th in the world for esports earnings and was also the highest earning team at the Fortnite World Cup in New York winning $3.45M USD and holds two Guinness World Records. For more information, please visit lazarus.gg or it’s parent company, tiidal.gg Special Guest: Charlie Watson, CEO at Tiidal Gaming & Lazarus Esports.

This week on the podcast, we are joined by Zach Wigel, CEO of Gamers Outreach! Zach and the crew discuss Gamers for Giving, breaking up LAN parties, and farming. Follow GamersOutreach on Twitter (twitter.com/GamersOutreach) Listen live to the NZXT

Pixel Politics The Podcast- An educational podcast inviting guests from within politics, history and gaming to sit down and talk about everything political and historical about games. In this episode, we talk to Samantha Robertell about the amazing charity she works for called Gamers Outreach. Gamers Outreach is a non-profit charity providing equipment, software and technology to help children undergoing treatment in hospital. You can check out the incredible work Gamers Outreach is doing here: https://gamersoutreach.org/. Please support their charity event at the end of the month, Gamers for Giving: https://gamersforgiving.org/ Please donate, fundraise and support if you can! Visit www.pixelpolitics.co.uk/ for more educational tools designed to teach you about politics and history through video games. Check out and follow our social media pages: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixe1politics/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pixe1politics Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pixe1politics

Hello and welcome to episode 170 of HCS Pro Talk and the first episode of March Interview Madness! To kick this initiative off, we had the honor of interviewing Martin Omes of GTHalo, Gamers Outreach, and so much more. Martin is a man of many talents, and wearer of many hats, within multiple industries. This whopping two and a half hour show contains plenty of laughs, stories, and insight into the world of one of the greatest people on this planet. We hope you enjoy. Martin Omes Plugs: https://twitter.com/MartinOmes https://www.twitch.tv/v0odooman https://twitter.com/GTHalo https://twitter.com/GamersOutreach

Each week we bring you two moments, one of epic success, someone who absolutely nailed it! And another of an epic failure, someone who totally failed it. This week for the Nailed It we visit the Houston Outlaws from the Overwatch League. The off-season may have begun but that doesn't mean they're taking any breaks from the spotlight. Some of the Houston Outlaws streamed for charity origination Gamers Outreach and raised over $11,000. Listen to the full show by subscribing to CheckpointXP: On Demand Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. CheckpointXP is a weekly nationally syndicated radio show in the United States and Canada that covers esports and video games. This podcast feed contains On-Demand episodes of the CheckpointXP Radio Show. Join James, Robbie, and producer Weird Beard each week as they run down what you need to know in esports and video games. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martin Omes wears a lot of hats. He's the Operations Coordinator for Gamers Outreach, he's the owner of @GTHalo, Commentator for OntarioIsSoccer and League1Ontario, and now also works with Toronto Ultra. How does one get to where Martin is? Listen in to find out

Zach Wigal is the founder of Gamers Outreach, a charity organization that provides hospitalized children video games while undergoing treatment. They supply an estimated 2 million play sessions to children in more than 200 hospitals across the country and host the largest LAN party in America: Gamers for Giving. Zach’s been recognized on the Forbes 30 under 30 and is a CNN Hero nominee. He’s here today to share his story and discuss how he overcame constant adversity to provide care and support to those who need it most.   When you’re in the hospital, clearly the first priority is to get OUT of the hospital. Things like treatments, research, and similar activities can overshadow the experience you have during your stay. The goal of Zach’s organization is to ease the struggle of an extended visit to the hospital. His focus is on quality of life. It got started while Zach was in high school. He and his friends wanted to host a video game tournament. His efforts were shut down by a resource officer who felt that games were corrupting the minds of America’s youth. Frustrated by this sentiment, Zach created a charity fundraiser, Gamers for Giving. From there, Zach was connected with people at local hospitals. The rest is history. Zach always knew he would be in the gaming industry, but he never thought he would grow to the success he has now. When he first got started, he didn’t have the vision of the impact his organization would have. At a certain point, this work started leaking into other aspects of his life. Eventually, he decided to pursue it full-force.    A big aspect of gaming is the interaction, both with other people and with the world itself. Now that we are all in a state of quarantine, the relationships built online can be reinforced through video games. Zach is in the business of recreation, entertainment, and engagement.    Zach certainly took a different path from many of his peers. A major struggle he faced was comparing his progress and his standing to those around him. When times of doubt hit, he reminded himself of the two things that make people quit: extreme failure and extreme success. Because he was so young, his perspective differed from some people he was working with. At one point, they decided to part ways. At the time, it felt like the bottom had fallen out. Zach sat down and concluded that he needed to be sure he was doing this to make a difference for kids in hospitals. It isn’t the Zach show, he wasn’t trying to improve the public outlook of him or gamers. Even in a smaller capacity, he knew this work was important. With that in mind, he started over and just kept going. The growth and development he embraced kept him above water in difficult times.    What you’ll learn On today’s episode, Zach shares with us his journey in creating his charitable organization. He discusses the successes and failures he experienced, and what kept him going through adversity.    LINKS Gamersoutreach.org @GamersOutreach

D’Vera Cohn, Pew Research Center, on the 2020 census. Zack Wigal of Gamers Outreach on bringing games to hospitals. John Feinstein on "The Back Roads of March: The Unsung, Unheralded and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season.” David Blackmon of Shale Magazine on oil chaos. Forrest Fleischman of Univ of Minnesota on planting trees. Kirsten Hawkes of ParentPreviews.com on movies about people feeling called to Christianity.

In this podcast Hunter and Kobe talk about University eSports and the growth of eSports in general, as well as some goals they have for the org and themselves for 2020!

Wow! Danelle and I were so thankful to have Ted Kidd and Dylan Chapman join us for this is a jam packed eSports episode of the EdTech Loop Podcast. If you are at all curious about the eSports phenomenon this is a must listen as our guests break down almost any aspect you could think of concern the sport. As the TechNollerGist would say, "Play a game today, it's good for you." Full Show Transcript:Dylan Chapman 0:00 Yeah, I've got you loud and clear here.Danelle Brostrom 0:07 We lost DylanTed Kidd 0:08 He's frozenDanelle Brostrom 0:09 I know. Awe,Dylan Chapman 0:10 Hi, sorry about that. I got myself kicked out I think.Danelle Brostrom 0:13 Larry. Are you ready?Larry Burden 0:15 We are ready.Larry Burden 0:21 It's Episode 95 of the EdTech Loop podcast. My name is Larry Burden and she'll choose Yoshi over Mario every time. It's Danelle Brostrom. For the first time ever on The EdTech Loop podcast we are joined remotely by the heroes of Michigan High School eSports, Dylan Chapman and Ted Kidd. Before they joined us in our endless quest to level up, we've already discovered this week's Moment of Zen.Moment of Zen 0:47 Time passes, people move, like a rivers flow it never ends, a childish mind will turn to noble ambition.Larry Burden 0:58 Danelle has taken over the cooking duties and has barred me from the kitchen so she could remotely prepare this week's meat of the show. The Rise of Esports.Danelle Brostrom 1:19 So Ted, can you give us a little introduction on who you are?Ted Kidd 1:22 Ted Kidd work at Pinckney Community Schools. I'm the Director of Technology Operations and which is kind of a glorified network janitor job.Danelle Brostrom 1:31 And Dylan?Dylan Chapman 1:32 I'm a high school social studies teacher at Grass Lake High School.Danelle Brostrom 1:35 Tell me what is eSports?Dylan Chapman 1:37 eSport s is competitive online video game play. It's a multi-billion dollar industry, and it's being played at everywhere from the high school, even middle school level, all the way up to collegiate, and professional play.Danelle Brostrom 1:50 How long have eSports been going on here in Michigan?Ted Kidd 1:52 At the high school level it's, this is kind of the fourth year. In our experience we've seen some competitive tournaments happen at Lawrence Technical University, they started that about three years ago, and then just recently, Dylan, myself and a few others in the state of Michigan have formed a organization called MiHSEF or Michigan High School eSports Federation, to allow all high school eSports programs to compete against each other for free.Danelle Brostrom 2:24 Nice. What kind of benefits are the kids getting from eSports? Like how, how are you selling this to families because I guarantee you there's probably a lot of moms that are like, no that's not a real thing honey, go back to doing what you were doing before.Dylan Chapman 2:34 Some of the things that are like life skills or lessons that students learn are things like, communication, teamwork, sportsmanship. In a lot of ways, it's like traditional sports and then a lot of other ways it's not. But they learn a lot of the skills that they would on the football field, but in a just a different environment. So some things that are different that I think that they learn, are things like self learning. They're definitely motivated internally, like by themselves to push themselves further. The players participate as coaches a lot more than, than traditional sports and that gives the students a sense of leadership and control.Ted Kidd 3:12 The thing about eSports versus traditional sports, because you kind of mentioned as well, is the esports can be played all year round. So kids don't just play for, you know, a six week period and then leave. Some of them will play all year round. So they really get a sense of community when they enter an eSports program.Dylan Chapman 3:34 As far as communities that are in doubt that eSports is something to participate in or worthwhile. I would just point to the major professional competitions that have been happening. Just recently, the Fortnite competition where a 16 year old took home the biggest prize purse in professional sports history of $3 million. To say that eSports is just kind of a, either a flash in the pan, or something that shouldn't be taken seriously, I would point to those major competitions, such as the League of Legends competitions that sell out arenas like Little Caesars Arena, Madison Square Garden, week after week. People are all in. If people don't know yet, they're just kind of out of the loop and they'll soon recognize that eSports is probably here to stay and it's going to take a bigger and bigger role, in the sports field. This kind of as a side note, the benefits of being a collegiate eSports player is it's not governed by the NCAA is governed by a different organization called NAC, and they had specifically written the rules that they don't have the amateurism standard where they can make, they can only make less than $1 on their likeness. So a big part of eSports revenue for individuals is their streaming and their online, like, influencer presence. So they're allowed to make all that money. They're allowed to play professionally, and they're also allowed to get scholarships to go to school at the same time.Danelle Brostrom 4:59 That's amazing to me that a 16 year old could bring home a prize like that, and now we're selling out arenas like that for, for gaming. Did you ever see this, did you visualize this happening someday?Dylan Chapman 5:12 I think eSports has gone through a couple generations of evolution. You could probably take it back to the days of Madden, and those kind of competitions. Super Smash Brothers, which is still a game that's played, was one of those original, kind of big major tournament play games. Those are still being played all around the country and including in places like Michigan where the prizes can get up there into the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the size of the contest.Ted Kidd 5:40 So Dylan, really, you can date this back to, you know, in the day of Pac Man, and Miss Pac Man where...Dylan Chapman 5:46 Oh yeah,Ted Kidd 5:47 kids would come together and have these little mini tournaments at the local arcade to see who's the best. This is basically dated back to, to a place where video games have started. You know, Calicovision and Atari, and all those game consoles lended themselves well to the local competition.Dylan Chapman 6:07 I'd say if anything it's just becoming more widespread across age groups and demographics.Ted Kidd 6:11 And now with the internet and fast internet speeds, playing from home is definitely an option for a lot of kids and that's how they practice and get better.Danelle Brostrom 6:22 This is amazing. What kind of practice, do you think your eSport athletes are, what kind of practice times they putting in?Ted Kidd 6:30 So in the Pinckney District, we let them practice twice a week, two hours a night after school. And then they have matches twice a week. Sometimes they'll, they'll stay a little bit later to, to play against each other, or do another scrimmage online. So we have the kids in, after school, two hours a night, pretty much four days a week.Dylan Chapman 6:51 Same here with my program. I'm actually in my eSports lab right now. We were able to commandeer an underutilized space. And we have practice here after school four days a week. We have matches twice a week. And one of the benefits I would say for families is that it does help to manage screen time for the students. Like when they're obligated to play, they're not as apt to get on once they get home. They kind of have gotten it out of their system in a controlled environment, and they move on to doing the things that they're supposed to do when they get home.Ted Kidd 7:23 Yeah, like family time, homework.Danelle Brostrom 7:26 Good, we're advocating balance. What is the coach's role during those practices, what does the coach do to encourage?Ted Kidd 7:34 I'm gonna say most schools don't have coaches, they have advisors. And my job as, as an advisor is to just make sure they're in the right games, they're participating with their own team. Occasionally, we'll, we'll look at replay game footage to see what went right, what went wrong. When you study the film, just like in football, you can see where you made mistakes and get better. And then there's a lot of organizing that has to happen with these eSports programs. So things like fundraising, and just communicating with parents. Making sure that Athletic Directors and Superintendents, and Building Principals know what is going on. That's important. Communication is key.Dylan Chapman 8:18 Yeah, the administrative back end definitely takes the bulk of what the adults responsibility is when it comes to coaching. Most of the advisors don't have the hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay experience that the players themselves have. Which is why player coaches and captains play a different role than they do in traditional sports, and there's almost more responsibility and leadership on their shoulders because of that, which is in my opinion, all good.Danelle Brostrom 8:45 You said that you have a lab at your school, what, what what kind of hardware needs to have to get started?Dylan Chapman 8:49 Ted could probably talk about the technical side of this, but it definitely varies from school to school. Some schools are ready to go, all they have to do is kind of like, turn the lights on and they're able to do it. Some schools will have to have, bring your own equipment, for a time period until they're able to establish funding or get the resources that they need donated in whatever capacity.Ted Kidd 9:08 The technical side of things, depending on the games that your school wants to play, typically have to have at least six computers. And six is the number of machines needed for the game called Overwatch. With a team of Overwatch, you need pretty high end machines. I mean you don't need, you don't need to buy $2,000 desktops or anything but, for example, in Pinckney, we got Black Friday deal last year, and picked up 12 machines for $530 each. So, depending on where you look for the deals and specials you can really pick up, what you need relatively cheaply. Thankfully we were able to get a loan from our Athletic Department to get us started. In lieu of buying computers, you can also subscribe to a service called Shadowgaming. I don't want to advertise for them but, Shadowgaming is a service that allows anybody to create an account, and essentially you log into their, their account, all the computing is done in the cloud, at their facilities, and they essentially stream you, what you're doing online. It's a neat service. Unfortunately it's $20 per month, per account, so it's kind of a pricey investment. But if you don't have the resources available to get computers, it's a, it's an option for schools. There are some schools that are sharing spaces. So CAD Lab machines are typically a good way to use an area for a multi purpose. So CAD labs definitely have the, typically have the horsepower needed to to play these games.Dylan Chapman 10:47 At my school we're repurposing some Robotics laptops that had 3D rendering abilities, which gave us the computing power to run the games at a decent setting. But yeah, cloud based computer gaming services shadow is one, Nvidia, which is a graphics card producer, they also have another one. That one's currently free. If schools wanting to experiment with just one season of league play it would be a cheap way to dabble. But long term I think building your own machines is probably the most cost effective, and you can incorporate some hands on computer science learning. With what Ted has done to update those computers, long term, they're not going to go out of date so to speak, they can just be updated which is, I would say, a cheaper one of the sports to participate in if you think about the equipment costs for other traditionals so.Danelle Brostrom 11:40 You guys have mentioned the games a couple times. Talk to me about the games? How are the games chosen? Do you choose the games? Are there multiple games? How does that all work?Dylan Chapman 11:48 So with our high school league we've chosen to go with Teen rating and below. And what we're trying to do is mirror what colleges and universities are playing. And what the colleges and universities are doing is they're mirroring what the professionals are playing. It's not to say that that's the end goal for us is to produce professional players, but we want to open up a dialogue between colleges and universities and high schools, and give an avenue to students that aren't typically given those opportunities to get scholarships for athletics.Ted Kidd 12:19 The Teen rating, and I want to call it milder is important for schools. Because if we were to go to a rated M for Mature type of a rating for some of these games, you're looking at games with a lot of graphic violence, bloody, gory, realistic weaponry. To expose kids to it at a high school level I think is, right now irresponsible. Only because we don't know how communities will react to it, first of all, and your administration will shut you down if you do that. So, at this point, it's not a battle I want to fight at my school. So we definitely stick to the T rating.Danelle Brostrom 13:01 Now Dylan you mentioned scholarships. What kind of opportunities are available here, here in Michigan or beyond. But what kind of opportunities are available for these kids that are starting with you in the MiHSeF.Dylan Chapman 13:11 So I'd say that there's probably going on a dozen schools that offer varsity programs, which is scholarship opportunities for eSports. Most of those games are the games that we're playing in our league. That spectrum of games could change and we'll, we'll change with those changes. Schools like Davenport University, Aquinas College, Western has a major eSports lab, and arena. They're working on getting their scholarship program in motion. Surrounding states, especially in the Midwest Great Lakes area have kind of been at eSports for a while longer. So they have opportunities outside of the state and actually also in Canada. There are schools that offer scholarships, and if you have an athlete, you know your typical multi sport athlete, 4.0, who's also a top tier game player, and eSports, they're kind of picking and choosing what schools that they want to go to. So I have a student who fits the bill and all those describers that I just mentioned and he's literally just getting hounded by college recruiters for scholarship opportunities where they're matching half of his tuition and then he can on top of that stack his academic scholarship. So nearly a full ride to Division Two, Division One schools.Ted Kidd 14:25 I want to make sure we mentioned all the schools in Michigan that offer scholarships for eSports. Sienna Heights University, Jackson College, Alma College, Northwood University, Aquinas College, Davenport University and soon, Michigan Tech.Danelle Brostrom 14:42 Why are colleges, I mean, and businesses looking for these eSports players.Ted Kidd 14:48 So, colleges have seats to fill, we, we've just been up to Northwood University to tour their campus, tour the eSports facilities for our playoffs for the fall. And met with their Esports head coach. And he was just saying the university's tuition is down, they have seats to fill, and they're trying different ways to get kids to come to their college. I think in Michigan, we've, we've kind of had this population drain since the, the last recession in 2007 ish. And all the people that moved away took the kids with them. I think it's, it's really had an adverse effect on things like education. So, Northwood is doing anything and everything they can to get kids in those seats and eSports is just the next evolution of trying to entice, you know 10 kids from this population, 10 kids from that population. If you get 10 here 10 they're in a lot of different places, and all of a sudden you've made up for that, that loss.Dylan Chapman 15:53 And you're pulling from a diverse background of students to, from all over the state, because the students who play eSports transcend different demographics, and they're all interested in the same sorts of things. Usually like STEM related fields. So, those jobs are in high demand, and jobs in computer science and Michigan, there's a huge skill gap when it comes to workers. So trying to entice those kids to come together with other like minded students to become future partners or, or collaborators on the next app or whatever it might be, is what colleges and universities are trying to attract so they could put that quill in their head of alumni that have been successful,Ted Kidd 16:34 As far as businesses are concerned, I think they've already found out that the, the students that are interested in eSports typically have a stronger background in the STEM, STEAM areas. So they're looking at potential engineers, and maybe even graphic artists, video production people. Some of those people that are creative but have like a solid knowledge of math and science. And let's not forget to mention to that the United States military are doing the same thing. They're, they're actively recruiting eSports students as well.Dylan Chapman 17:10 And it's got the 21st century skill set that businesses are looking for when it comes to people who are remote, who are working together and problem solving towards a common goal. Being communative being adaptable, all of those things you've learned in game and also translate well into the office space.Danelle Brostrom 17:29 Quite a few connections to ISTE which we talk about as well in the edtech world. So, is gender equity, an issue, and eSports? And if so, what do you, what are you guys doing to help recruit some diverse people?Dylan Chapman 17:41 I mean, I think there's definitely a stigma, and a stereotype that your typical gamers a 15 year old boy. But, research shows that men and women of all age groups play games in some capacity. I mean look at your phone, you probably have some game on there that's just a casual type of play. But almost everybody as a gamer, even if they don't know it. Bringing people from that kind of casual play to competitive, is what we try to bridge the divide on. In my program we have quite a few girls, and because you're a female in the esports world you're kind of given an inflated profile when it comes to college recruitment. So I use that as kind of something that says like hey, you're a big fish in a small pond when it comes to being a female in this field because STEM fields also need females at this time too so. It's just a way to connect the dots to say, this is a high demand, high, highly lucrative field of work. And here's some pathways to get you more familiar with...Ted Kidd 18:41 So in, at the Pinckney eSports program for our fall season we have two girls and are playing out of 16 total students. So there's definitely, gender equity gap that we're seeing. We try to promote the girls as much as possible. Like on social media, especially last year when we had two students that got scholarships to, to colleges, and one of them was a, was a girl. And we did everything we could to make sure that her profile was, was featured on our social media site. Just saying, there are opportunities for, for women in this, in this area. And as a Tech Director, I don't have the skills needed personally to, to know how to bridge that gap and, but I'm always looking for ways to for people to tell me, hey, try this or try that. And I'm very receptive to it, because I know there is a gap there.Danelle Brostrom 19:39 So, this sounds amazing and already I'm thinking that my, my kids need to do this. Do you, do you need to be a gaming superstar to join the team?Ted Kidd 19:49 In, in Pinckney, you just have to be a body that shows up and plays. We do have a pay to participate fee, unfortunately, only because our district doesn't fund it out of their general funds. Anybody that's willing, able, and even if they're not able we try to accommodate, things like physical disabilities and handicaps as, as much as possible. So, yes, anybody, anybody can do this. At the lower levels, you know elementary, middle school, the first thing they can do is, is to get involved with Minecraft. I think Minecraft is an excellent entry point for eSports. Minecraft licenses are free for Michigan K-12,Danelle Brostrom 20:30 Are there any interesting new developments happening with your program or your league that you'd like to share?Dylan Chapman 20:35 Our playoffs, I'm excited about our playoffs. So we're making networking connections with different universities around the state and our playoffs will be held December 7 at Northwood University. We also have lined up our Spring and Winter playoffs as well at different universities across the state. All of our players are from all across the league are welcome to come and mingle with other students with similar interests, do some casual play and find out who the best in the state are.Ted Kidd 21:04 We've had a lot of schools that have reached out to us to contact us and they just want to know how to get started. Just yesterday I got a call from, I think, Menominee?Danelle Brostrom 21:15 Menominie, Yes,Ted Kidd 21:16 The ISD reached out to me yesterday and we had a pretty good discussion about how all of their School Districts up there could get started in eSports. So it's nice that we're having an impact, not just, you know in the population center of Michigan but up in the Upper Peninsula where, you know, kids might not have the same opportunities available. So, from what I've heard it's the Principals of the high schools that had this conversation, trying to get the ISD to help them. It's nice that the ISD is taking a leadership role to to get things like that started,Danelle Brostrom 21:48 What advice, did you give them? I'm curious, how do high schools get started with all this because yeah, this is amazing and we should all be doing it.Ted Kidd 21:55 Depending on what area you want to focus on you, you want to talk to both teachers and technology professionals. It seems like the tech people are needed to, to get things going, to provide the technical expert, expertise. But really, if you want to do this you have to get buy-in from either Superintendent, Athletic Director, Principal. And you have to have those stakeholders kind of on your side, because if they're not, then your programs doomed. Then you have to make sure that you have enough student interest to run a program. Certain schools in Michigan, that have built eSports programs, but can't get the kids to actually show up and play, which is bizarre in my mind, but it has happened. So if you build it, they won't necessarily come.Dylan Chapman 22:43 I would say first is kind of take the temperature of the school. See if there's an interest for it. If there is, find an advisor who's willing to dedicate a lot of time, and a lot of patience to starting a program. You definitely have to get in touch, like Ted said, with your technical support team because this is a lot of what I'm doing here is out of my skill set. We have a technical support staff member on our high school campus who helps me out almost on a daily basis to jump hurdles with connections, updates, and equipment all the time. Beyond that, organization, communication with the community on what you're doing, and buy-in from the top down,Ted Kidd 23:22 The final steps would be, make sure you have the equipment or the service to, to run the program, and join a league.Danelle Brostrom 23:29 How long is the competitive season, what kind of a commitment are we talking about?Ted Kidd 23:32 So for the MiHSeF League, our seasons are anywhere between six to eight weeks with a playoff. It varies based on the participation we get and the number of divisions that we have to kind of assemble.Dylan Chapman 23:44 I believe it's eight weeks.Ted Kidd 23:45 OkayDylan Chapman 23:46 So this season we're playing two games, which are Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and Overwatch. We play on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That ran from about October 1 until mid November around that area. And then after Christmas break we're going to have a winter season, that will run from after Christmas break till right before spring break or so and then a spring season that runs from after spring break till just near summer. So different games throughout. Depending on interest we might add more games in. But like Ted said, the length of the season is really determined by the number of participating teams across the state. So schools have had multiple Super Smash Brothers teams and multiple Overwatch teams. It's been going really smooth.Ted Kidd 24:29 Yeah, for our first season this fall, we had 12 schools participate. Which is incredible when we compare that to other states surrounding us and what they said their numbers were for their first seasons. So in Super Smash Brothers we have 25 teams from those 12 schools. In Overwatch, unfortunately we only have 11 teams. We have one school that didn't want to participate in Overwatch, and that's okay.Dylan Chapman 24:52 This is our first season of our first year of operation and schools have been signing up as the season's been underway. So I imagine next year we'll have a much better turnout. And even next season with the games that we're playing will have a better turnout as far as number of schools.Danelle Brostrom 25:08 I keep hearing those same two games being talked about. I keep hearing Super Smash Brothers and Overwatch. What is it about those two games that either coaches are interested in, or kids are interested in or why those two?Danelle Brostrom 25:17 The kids are definitely interested in Super Smash Brothers right now. It is the hot game. There are not just our league running it but there's tournaments popping up at colleges. Like every other weekend we see colleges running a Super Smash tournament.Dylan Chapman 25:34 It's a very casual, social game, but it can also be extremely technical. It's like a game that you can play with your grandma, and then a game that you can play with the most professional players. So it appeals to a wide variety of players. And then Overwatch is a team based strategy, kind of capture the flag type of game. Defend the, defend an area kind of game with a lot of communication that's necessary and character types. That game I can see how that is a feeder program into the US military.Ted Kidd 26:07 The United States Army eSports team has an Overwatch team that, and they're always on Twitter, talking about how to do certain things. They create videos for, for other players. It's really a cool program.Danelle Brostrom 26:21 What do you hope for in terms of the future of your program or this league?Dylan Chapman 26:25 I just hope for it to expand further beyond. To incorporate more schools, of course.Ted Kidd 26:30 Kind of the vision and mission that we have for MiHSeF is to make sure that eSports is something that's viable for Michigan K-12. We have applied for our nonprofit organization status. So we want to make sure that we are able to find sponsorships and partnerships with businesses so that we can provide opportunities for students. Some of the things that we were thinking about we're providing mini grants for schools that can't afford to start eSports. To give them that initial capital to maybe get a few machines and get going. Right now we just have to focus on getting started.Dylan Chapman 27:07 I'd like to see a middle school program emerge as well if somebody wants to take the reins on that. Work with us to create interest at the middle school level and start building those skill sets so that way we have just, you know, just like the other traditional sports they have middle school football and basketball and baseball, if we can extend that down to the middle school level for eSports that'd be great. The more schools we get, we've got regional play, some interstate play, because, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, they all have eSports leagues as well, and we've been piggybacking off of what works for them to create the league that we have now.Ted Kidd 27:40 Just because it's a sit down competition, doesn't mean that it's necessarily a event or sport that doesn't include some activity. One of the things that high schools right now are doing is looking at the psychological nature of eSports and, and how to make sure kids are in the right mindset to play. We've been looking at physical fitness programs and regiments with our conditioning coach in Pinckney. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it this year because our Athletic Director told us, Hey your kids need to have physicals in order to do some of this stuff. So right now we just have them kind of walking around the school in between matches just to, you know, kind of get loose, clear their heads.Dylan Chapman 28:24 Some schools are doing some sort of like, meditative yoga in between sessions. Some schools run kickball tournaments on the weekends to, to balance activity with mental kind of activities. And in gameplay, there's stats out there that show the players heart rates get up into the 120's and their, their blood is pumping and they're excited. So it's not like a couch potato type of thing, it's a very edge of your seat kind of activity. And really containing excitement, and keeping a cool head is part of the challenge of eSports. And that's also a translatable skill into the office place which is trying to keep a cool head while trying to focus on your end result in a stressful environment.Ted Kidd 29:05 There's a local food pantry in the Pinckney area that we always make sure that we have a fundraiser to benefit them. And it's all about the giving back, type of mentality. Always looking at ways to give back, is something that the eSports community as a whole has done. There's organizations like Gamers for Giving.Dylan Chapman 29:29 Gamers Outreach, there's a program that started in Saline actually, Saline, Michigan, where gamers go around with portable consoles to the Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor and just play video games with them. So the eSports world is definitely all about giving back, even if they haven't hit this kind of superstar status, it gives players, a platform to make their mark in the world.Danelle Brostrom 29:53 This is the stuff that I love and this is why I think this podcast is really important, because I feel like some people if they don't understand it they dismiss it. It's, it's just kids playing video games, I don't understand why this is, why this is athletic, or why this is good or, but all the things that the kids are learning while they're playing these games, it's, those are transfer, transferable to any industry, and college and we want the kids to do these kinds of things.Ted Kidd 30:17 Because of the, the learning that can happen. Having the adults in the room is the important step to make sure that they are getting the things taught to them that they need to be. Simple things like not getting upset when you lose, lose a match. You know, teaching them sportsmanship. Those are the skills that they need to have because if they get upset while they're at work and they break a keyboard or throw a mouse, it could get them fired. So we want to make sure that we, we teach them those skills like they have in any other traditional sport.Dylan Chapman 30:49 Except for we can also offer digital citizenship skills when communicating virtually with other schools and teams. So, how to communicate on a sportsman like level with other, with other players. And when we have hangups and problems, how to resolve those issues, in a negotiated, compromising way. It's good for the students to see that model by the advisors, and it's also nice to see the students do that.Ted Kidd 31:11 I think those are the types of skills that you want to promote to kids in your area. That's like the core of why all these schools are doing these things is to teach those skills.Danelle Brostrom 31:25 I feel like this is about to blow up and you guys have done a ton of work, getting this started in Michigan.Ted Kidd 31:29 A ton of work is very much an understatement here. There, there has been so much work involved to get this going. It's, it really blows my mind about how much each one of our members schools have done, just getting started. How much our board has done to make this a reality. I give everybody that's involved a ton of credit for just participating, having some input, writing the rules for games, developing a Policy Handbook, driving to different places to have meetings with each other, just so that everybody's on the same page. It's been a lot of work, but it's also been fun.Dylan Chapman 32:07 And it's been a 100% grassroots effort, based on a nonprofit, not for profit sort of model that's completely focused on student experience and student outcomes.Danelle Brostrom 32:16 Larry's handing me questions as we speak, is the,Dylan Chapman 32:20 Thanks LarryDanelle Brostrom 32:20 is there MHSAA involvement with eSports?Dylan Chapman 32:23 They're kind of sit and watch sit and wait, sort of pattern right now. What they would want to do if they were to do something like this, is they would probably try to get somebody to break the ice on this and do exactly what we're doing. We tried to write our rules and policies in line with their rules and policies so that way when they do take it on that there's no, you know, reinventing, what eSports is so that way the transitions just really smooth,Ted Kidd 32:50 We've actually reached out to the MHSAA to gauge their interest and tell them about what we're doing. There is the reality that we're facing that they may not want to ever do eSports. And in which case, we're, you know, building the foundation for high school eSports in Michigan right now, and that wouldn't be a bad thing. It also wouldn't be a bad thing if they did take it over, as long as we were able to have some input and provide the framework and structure to allow that to happen.Dylan Chapman 33:22 Because we, we kind of know what works now. So they definitely be seeking guidance from somebody who's been through it already. So we're definitely willing to work with them whenever they're ready to take on eSports as part of the Michigan High School Athletics Association umbrella.Ted Kidd 33:37 We just want to get people involved. We want to get schools involved. We want to get students excited about this, and it gives them the opportunity to, you know, learn. Because then the opportunity to have potential scholarships in college.Dylan Chapman 33:53 I've seen, not only do they have to hold themselves to the academic standards of eligibility requirements as far as what our schools policy is based on but their attitude towards school I've seen it change. I've seen their focus pick up, because I've built that relationship with them through eSports. And then I'm sure that's translating and other classes as well.Ted Kidd 34:14 Perry High School in Perry, Michigan, Zach Gardner runs that program there, along with his desktop technician, Josh, and they have a really high free and reduced rate in their school. So one of the things that they've done is they've gotten a after school meal program for their kids.Dylan Chapman 34:33 Which is federally funded and fully supported to pay the staff and buy the food, and now they're serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at their school. And they have a great after school activity which is eSports.Ted Kidd 34:46 He's also been able to acquire some Title 4 funds for his program to actually buy things. Just because he has a high free and reduced population doesn't mean that his kids can't have all the nice things that every other school district can and should have. So he's been buying gaming chairs and upgrading his computers, buying gaming monitors. With a high free and reduced population, you have kids that just don't care about school. They're more interested in, in figuring out where their next meal is coming from. They might have situations at home that they don't want to have to deal with but have to deal with anyway. So he's trying to make it an atmosphere where kids can come and be in a safe environment,Dylan Chapman 35:25 Make friends, learn how to deal with frustrations in a controlled environment. It's great.Ted Kidd 35:29 And also, get them involved in school so that their grades are high enough to actually compete. He's had a couple of kids that were failing that he's just told them, Hey, you have to, you know, meet the minimum requirements to be part of this and thankfully they did. And I think that's a testament to how eSports can affect kids.Dylan Chapman 35:48 if eSports can help a kid graduate high school, you know, mission accomplished. If they can get a scholarship on top of that,Ted Kidd 35:53 Icing on the cake.Danelle Brostrom 35:54 Exactly.Dylan Chapman 35:55 I don't want to jinx myself but I haven't really seen the downside of eSports yet.Danelle Brostrom 35:59 So where do we go if we want to learn more about MiHSeF or we want to get started?Ted Kidd 36:03 MiHSeF website is mihsef.org. You can email info@mihsef.org, and somebody will answer any questions. All of our rules, there's some technical documents, policy handbooks.Dylan Chapman 36:18 How to, how to start a eSports team PowerPoint presentation on there.Ted Kidd 36:23 We're developing more and more documents as resources for schools. But the website is really the hub and spoke of MiHSeF right now, where you find any and all the information that we have.Danelle Brostrom 36:36 Awesome! What is your Twitter for those of us who need to know?Ted Kidd 36:39 I think it's just @MiHSeF, very easy.Danelle Brostrom 36:41 Perfect. Honestly guys, MiHSeF and, and in your work you're providing some amazing opportunities to Michigan's kids so, thank you. This is awesome.Dylan Chapman 36:49 We're glad to do it.Ted Kidd 36:51 Definitely.Larry Burden 36:51 So in closing, follow us on Facebook and Twitter @tcapsloopDanelle Brostrom 36:54 @brostromdaLarry Burden 36:55 Subscribe to the podcast on podbean, iTunes, Stitcher, Tune-in, downcast, overcast, the Google Play Store and Spotify or wherever else you get your ear candy, leave a review we love the feedback. Thanks for listening and inspiring.Danelle Brostrom 37:12 That was Fan-tas-stic. Intro music provided by Poddington BearTranscribed by https://otter.ai

Thanks to everybody who joined us for our first live episode! This week it’s the Battle of the Looter Shooters as the team have been playing Destiny 2 and Borderlands 3, Elliot’s been playing Neo Cab, the new futuristic cyberpunk cab driving narrative game, and we talk about ALL the huge news coming out of PlayStation!And it being the start of the month, it’s time for another round of Yeet or Delete!Let us know in the comments or hit us up on Twitter @SpawnRespawnPC about what you think of the live format. We've got loads of bonus episodes coming next weekend as we'll be attending PAX Aus, so make sure you follow us over there, and subscribe to the channel and on your favourite podcast service to stay up to date with all the news that comes out from Australia's biggest gaming event of the year.Huge thanks to our good friend @RifleLetsPlay for sponsoring the audio version of the podcast! Check him out at mixer.com/RifleLP for his awesome streams! And find him on YouTube too at youtube.com/rifleLP!Support #Project181 with donations that will go to Gamers Outreach! We’d love for you to support a great cause by going to https://tiltify.com/@181_gaming/project181/donate

Support #Project181 with donations that will go to Gamers Outreach! We’d love for you to support a great cause by going to https://tiltify.com/@181_gaming/project181/donateThis week we take a deep dive into the latest announcements from Playstation’s State of Play, including the brand new trailer for The Last of Us Part II (and finally a release date!) and the latest Inside Xbox. Dylan and Mitch have also been playing the Call of Duty Modern Warfare Open Beta and give their first impressions. We also take a couple of viewer questions! So thanks to @StaticAus and @GreyAussieGamer for their input! If you have any questions or topics we should cover on a future episode, get them down in the comments or hit us up on Twitter @SpawnRespawnPC.Huge thanks to our good friend @RifleLetsPlay for sponsoring the audio version of the podcast! Check him out at mixer.com/RifleLP for his awesome streams! And find him on YouTube too at youtube.com/rifleLP!0:50 Minecraft14:08 Call of Duty Modern Warfare Beta26:18 Middle Earth: Shadow of War24:42 Greedfall41:59 @GreyAussieGamer asks: ‘With the recent success of Spiders Studios’ Greefall, do you see them moving out of AA and into AAA gaming?53:19 Playstation State of Play Thoughts and Impressions01:05:48 Inside Xbox Thoughts and Impressions01:35:26 @StaticAus asks: ‘F**k one, marry one, kill one. Borderlands 3, Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Destiny 2 Shadowkeep.’

Support #Project181 with donations that will go to Gamers Outreach! We’d love for you to support a great cause by going to https://tiltify.com/@181_gaming/project181/donateThis week Kat and Elliot have been playing the brand new RPG from Spiders, Greedfall, and have been having a great time in this Bioware-esque new title, we continue our journey through Gears 5 and look at what is set to come in the future of the latest Xbox Game Studios game, and we also talk about the newly announced Project Resistance, an asymmetrical multiplayer game set in the Resident Evil universe! We also break down some of the cool and interesting announcements from last week’s Nintendo Direct!Let us know in the comments if you’ve been playing GreedFall, and if there’s anything you want us to cover in a future episode, drop it down below, or hit us up on Twitter @SpawnRespawnPC!Huge thanks to our good friend @RifleLetsPlay for sponsoring the audio version of the podcast! Check him out at mixer.com/RifleLP for his awesome streams! And find him on YouTube too at youtube.com/rifleLP!

Zach Wigal is the creator of Gamers Outreach, a company that motivates, supports and entertains those in hospital fighting for their lives. How? by bringing video games to hospital rooms in over 200 hospitals in the US and parts of Canada. This entrepreneurial journey is fuelled by passion. What started as a video game tournament has evolved into a company helping thousands of sick or injured youth every week. Zach has even been mentioned in Forbes Under 30 for his incredible work in the video game and non-profit world. I was always told they are just bad. They teach violence… Zach makes you realize that isn’t really the case. Zach opens the sheltered mind and changes the socially created issues that come with video games. Zach explains the the community, the inclusion, the life lessons and more that come with video games that you may not realize until you hear these real life examples. Zach Wigal Twitter Gamers Outreach Twitter

Support #Project181 with donations that will go to Gamers Outreach! We’d love for you to support a great cause by going to https://tiltify.com/@181_gaming/project181/donateWe haven’t played many games this week, so we’re talking about some of the most exciting upcoming games for this year and beyond, we also chat about some of the news including Day Z getting banned in Australia, Apex Legends and more. Let us know what games you’re most excited for in the comments below!And if you’ve enjoyed this show, you can find us on Podbean, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, just search for Spawn/Respawn!If you have any suggestions for what we should cover on the podcast, hit us up on Twitter @SpawnRespawnPC or drop it in the comments below!Big thanks to our very good friend RifleLP for supporting our world domination on Podbean http://mixer.com/RifleLP and @RifleLetsPlay

During the recent E3 game conference, I sat down onstage with Zach Wigal, the founder of Gamers Outreach, which provides games and video game equipment for kids stuck in hospitals facing long-term care for serious and life-threatening conditions. It was one of four panels I did as part of the E3 Esports Zone, run by Subnation, and a series of partners and sponsors. We were on the Content Stage and also had our conversations streamed live across the web. Just in case you missed all of that, here's my conversation with Zach about helping kids facing serious illness with the therapeutic escape of video games. They do good work. Maybe you can find a way to support them as well. In the meantime, many thanks to Subnation, E3, and their partners for the opportunity to take part in this and several other great conversations. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/davidlbloom/support

Aaron Greenberg is the General Manager of Xbox Games Marketing and leads a team of global product marketers who oversee games marketing for Xbox first party studio titles (Halo, Gears, Forza) as well as third party studio partners such as EA, Activision, and Ubisoft. He’s also a board member of Gamers Outreach, a video game industry charity that provides therapy & recreation to children in hospitals.

Listen in as Wielding, Pack, and special guests FluffyFingers and AdmiralNips, discuss their week in gaming and entertainment. This week the guys recap the Video Game Awards. The featured Genre is Christmas movies and everyone gives their 3 favorite Christmas movies. The featured charity this week is Gamers Outreach, and the featured charity stream is the Chicken Dinners for Charity Winter Invitational. The main topic for this weeks show is the Destiny 2 expansion the Curse of Osiris. The guys talk about laser tag crucible, the changes to the sand box, new heroic adventures, the Inifnite Forest, and the story. Lots of Destiny talk to be had this week. You can join our Discord server by following the link pinned to our Twitter @CyberPowHourPod. You can also send us an email at cyberpoweredhour@gmail.com. Be sure to tune in to the Potato Thumbs Podcast and show some love for our guests! Music by PurplePlanet Music. 

This week on The Married Gamers Presents, Chris interviews with Zach Wigal, founder of Gamers Outreach, about the upcoming LAN event, Gamers for Giving 2017. You can find us at: The Married Gamers Twitch.tv Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Youtube If you have a comment, send it to us at marriedgamers@outlook.com.

Well, Andy and Dave celebrate 500 episodes by inviting back their first guest, Zach Wigal. They wound him up and let him talk for 67 minutes about Gamers Outreach.

The Red Show is back! Doc, Dave, and Lono discuss Black Ops, Kinect, Dance Central, Kinectimals, Gamers Outreach, and more. Welcome to the 136th episode of the Sarcastic Gamer podcast. The Red Show.

Chris and Kelly are joined by Elaine, Zach, and Stefanie of Gamers Outreach.  This episode we talk about the Gamers For Giving game tournament taking place May 1st in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  In addition we talk about the charities involved with Gamers Outreach and how to help give.  All this plus we reveal our wish list for this year's Game Developer's Conference and what we've been playing.

Zach Wigal joins us to let us know what's been going on with Gamers Outreach since Dave gave him the idea 2 years ago.