Photo by Travis Eubanks
By Luke Cunningham
After racking up multiple championships in recent years, the William Peace University esports program is striving for another.
Tryouts are taking place this week for all three teams: Super Smash Bros., Overwatch and Rocket League. Team captains and coaches alike are excited about all the new talent coming to Peace this year.
One of them is Jason Alamony, head coach for each program. In Alamony’s first year at Peace, he coached the Overwatch A team to win the NACE Spring 2026 – Overwatch Varsity Plus. He also coached several other programs into playoff contention.
He hopes for many more championships and says more students tried out this year than ever before.
“And that’s great for funding and great for building up our program,” said Alamony.
Among those students is Jordan Watkins, a returning player who tried out for the Overwatch team. Watkins, a simulation and game design major in his second year at Peace, was part of last year’s championship-winning roster. Reflecting on his first season, he said the most valuable lesson was “working as a team and providing effective communication.”
If he makes the team this year, he plans to apply what he learned by “adapting to the situations my team is in…and using what I could see on my screen to inform others as to when to act or when we need to scale back.”
While both Overwatch and Rocket League have secured championships, Smash Bros., however, has not.
Smash Bros. team captain Dakota Jones is also in his second year at Peace. Last year wasn’t the best season for them, but as his first year as captain, Jones is “looking forward to playing Smash again with my fellow teammates and hopefully securing a title.”
Each team has completed tryouts, and the team has been announced on Sept. 7. So far, a few players with Grandmaster and Champ ratings have tried out for the first time.
Be sure to follow @williampeaceesports on Twitch and turn on notifications to tune in to the games. The esports community is open to everyone. Join the Peace esports Discord server if you want to meet players, volunteer, or find out who made the roster!