League of Legends news » uLoL Spotlight: The Organizers

University League of Legends (uLoL) is a student-led network of 300+ League of Legends clubs from schools all across the U.S. and Canada. Ranging from a handful of dedicated League players all the way to thousands of members, campus clubs are a vital part of the League community ecosystem.

We sat down for a chat with two collegiate organizers - Jessie “SoGthatimH” Wang from UC Irvine and Rai “hot kbbq grill” Kim from UCLA.

First, tell us about yourself! What are you majoring in and your favorite champion/role?

Jesse: Hi, my name is Jesse Wang, and I’m a 3rd year Informatics Major.  My favorite champion right now is Jayce, and I’m a top lane main.

Rai: Hello! I’m currently a 4th year biology major with an interest in English and Art. My favorite champion by design is Katarina and my favorite champion to play is Nami. That being said, I actually play Jinx the most. 

How did you end up becoming an organizer?

Jesse: Back in High School, I founded and twice won a high school StarCraft 2 tournament. I was extremely interested in continuing my passion for gaming in college, and it was my goal to get involved in the collegiate gaming community.  I specifically chose UCI because of the strong gaming community and extremely prime location.  Growing up, all of the SoCal eSports events always took place in Orange County.

Rai: I got into organizing the League club on campus solely out of my enjoyment of the game. I disliked how gaming clubs were run on college campuses and how gaming would sometimes be stigmatized by both students and staff. So I sought to create a new environment where gamers themselves would also be considered equals.

How do you balance League and campus life?

Jesse: They say you can only choose two out of the magical three - GPA, sleep, and social life.  For me, my entire social life is my club and the friends I’ve made through it.  I still get a fair amount of sleep and am able to maintain a decent GPA - I think a lot of it comes down to being able to manage your time properly, and planning ahead.  It also helps that I took all of my harder computer science classes my first few years, so now I can take my easier classes now.

Rai: It’s quite difficult to do both but I manage by sacrificing a little sleep here and there. Now that I am an organizer, this leaves me little time to actually play the game as I’m too busy organizing events for our members.

Any tips for anyone going into college and looking to get involved or organize their own club?

Jesse: First, do your research on how to both run a club and what the gaming community on your campus looks like.  There is a lot of great information, tools, and support Riot gives through uLoL to clubs.  On a more generic note, you get out what you put in, so be prepared to do work, and most importantly, if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right!        

Rai: For organizers, the first piece of advice I would give is be prepared to lose a bit of sleep. As the organizer of multiple clubs on campus, I can say that running a gaming club is not a joke and it takes more effort than some academic ones. If you want to be successful, you need to be ready to go out of your way and fight for what you want to ultimately happen through your club. For those looking to get involved, all I can say is to donate your time and to participate in every event your club hosts. Your organizers spend hours planning things and the only way the events will continue is through your support.

Who do you think will be the top two teams in the uLoL Campus Series this year?

Jesse: UBC and RMU.  But I do think UCI will be able to take first next year - We’re constantly working on our play and hope it will bring back the UCI dominance.

Rai: Realistically, I can say that UBC will definitely be one of the top teams this year. Overall, they have a better and more consistent infrastructure to their competitive teams than any other school. As for the second team, I’m not quite sure but perhaps RMU.

If you had to choose one champion or skin to represent your club, which would you pick and why?

Rai: I think everyone in our club can agree that the champion to represent us would definitely be Volibear as we are the UCLA Bruins. And have you ever tried to kill a fed mid-game Volibear? That’s right; he’s unkillable. You can’t bring us down, and we bite. =)

Jesse:  That’s almost impossible because our mascot is an Anteater.  The closest thing would be Tahm Kench because of his tongue probably...but that’s just weird.

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Interested in joining a current club or creating one of your own? Check out the uLoL website for all the information you need to get started!