Bovey Zhang and Lucas De La Pena joined the Inside UMSL podcast to talk about the UMSL esports program.

Bovey Zhang’s love for video games started with hours spent playing his Nintendo 64 when he was a kid. Chasing that passion as a career option – after multiple other stops – brought him to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where he’s helping to build the university’s esports program as the esports director. The teams currently focus on four games – League of Legends, Valorant, Super Smash Bros. and Overwatch – and hosts both practices and events at the Triton Esports Arena in the Millennium Student Center.

In a conversation with host Nate Fleming on the latest episode of the Inside UMSL podcast, Zhang and current student Lucas De La Pena, UMSL’s community esports president and part of the Super Smash Bros. team, talked about the program’s origins, how the esports program draws elements from and has relevancy for programs across campus and also the future of the program.

“I feel like that immersive environment we’re building, and that sense of belonging, is very important for our students here,” Zhang said. “We cater to that, and we want to grow that.”

A joint initiative of the Office of Admissions and University Marketing and Communications, Inside UMSL features interviews covering innovative teaching, groundbreaking research, exciting extracurricular opportunities, athletics and other campus initiatives. The podcast launched earlier this year. The first episode featured Anita Manion, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, who also serves as a political analyst for KSDK (Channel 5). Episode 2 was a conversation with Sandra Langeslag, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences, sharing how she first became interested in studying the brain through experiences of love and romantic relationships.

New episodes of Inside UMSL are available monthly on the Inside UMSL podcast page or wherever you listen to podcasts.