By Donnie Leahy
E-sport’s is a lucrative industry spreading across media like wildfire, one of those places being here at William Peace University.
The University has invested their resources to obtain an official coach to lead the program’s direction, Coleman Arehart.
Arehart graduated from and received his bachelor’s degree from Peace. In 2022 he would officially be instated as the university’s first official e-sports coach.
In 2019 he was approached by an old friend who was competing in the Womens Car Ball Championship, and after reconnecting would consider the possibility of coaching.
“I saw that their team was struggling with confidence and overall mentality, which I felt particularly motivated to help with,” said Arehart.
He made this assessment after evaluating the team.
Coleman fit well with the newly founded Valorant, Rocket League, and Super Smash Brothers teams. He immediately established connections with the players and would become a welcome member of the community.
Arehart currently oversees all of the e-sports teams at Peace, but is the head coach of the Rocket League team.
In his position he handles anything related to e-sports such as, scheduling games, trips to tournaments and other events, jersey orders, recruiting, and other managerial duties.
Arehart has competed at some of the biggest stages in e-sports. He competed in the Rocket League Championship Series under the name ColemanA back in 2017.
This was only the 3rd edition of this e-sport’s world championship meaning that Arehart was one of the earliest professionals to ever play in the scene.
“A few months after the release of Rocket League, I found myself on the top 100 leaderboard in the 1v1 playlist. This was a big wakeup call for me,” said Arehart.
He would soon go on to reach number 16 in the world on the 1v1 Rocket League leaderboards and would get invited to a 1v1 tournament against the best solo professional players at the time. Arehart would place second in the tournament, only falling to Kronovi in the final, a player who was considered the indisputable best in the world.
Despite not winning the tournament, Arehart would continue to play the Rocket League further honing his abilities. In just a couple years, Coleman would join a pro team and finally compete on the games biggest stage, the RLCS Season 3 World Championship.
Arehart competed against the best players in the world while competing in the world championship is a feat only few have achieved in any game, his journey in e-sports did not stop there.
“I have recently been trained as a mental health coach under the HealthyGamer organization and I now have the privilege of helping people all over the world understand themselves and make the changes that they want to see in their lives,” said Arehart.
Clay Whitehurst, a founding student of the e-sports Programs and current player for the Overwatch team has been working with Arehart since he came to Peace.
“Coleman is dedicated to the strengthening of a student’s skills in and outside of the game, and it makes all the difference in the attitude and mindset of the players and participants,” said Arehart.
Arehart plans to eventually leave Peace and take his passion for mental health elsewhere, but for now he will continue to help lead the Pacers to success in e-sports.
Coleman Arehart will coach the Pacers Rocket League team in their semi-final match in the NACE StarLeague on April 8.
Watch the game live at twitch.tv/wpuesports