Well Said: Esports take hold at Carolina
With an estimated 400 million people expected to watch competitions this year, esports is making waves in the sports world. On this week’s episode, a former Carolina student shares his experiences as a professional esports player and coach.
Like many kids, Matt Cannon grew up playing video games. For him, it was a hobby that eventually grew to something much more substantial.
Cannon spent years playing and coaching video games professionally — even while he was a student at Carolina.
He made his mark in Overwatch, a first-person shooter game with several modes of competitive play, but retired as a player in 2016. Cannon still maintains a top-500 rank in North America, and he retired as a coach in 2018 with six tournament championships.
Now, he’s helping Carolina enter the esports world.
On this episode of Well Said, this Tar Heel explains how Carolina keeps calling him home and how he hopes to make collegiate esports more mainstream.
Listen to the episode on SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Read a transcript of this episode.
Join us every Wednesday for Well Said to hear from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Each week, you’ll learn what’s going on in classrooms, labs and around campus, and how it pertains to the local, national and international headlines.
