Photo courtesy of Katie Le.

When SAU Esports Director Keith Hamaker transitioned from his role as Assistant Coach to Director, he wasn’t fully sure what to expect. 

“There are lots of changes. In this new role I am definitely taking on more of the business side, more of the boring side if you will.”

Hamaker took over as the Director of Esports this past year, and instantly stepped up to the plate to begin helping his teams. Hamaker has been involved with Esports programs for nearly 10 years, and has served as the SAU Assistant Coach for the past two. Now as a director, he says he has to evolve into taking a role more behind the scenes.

New Beginnings

As an assistant coach, Hamaker’s roles were to support athletes during practice, helping communicate with certain teams about certain events, matches, etc. He says he developed relationships with the athletes and got to know them well , and when the previous Director left, he figured he’d throw his hat in the ring.

“I applied for the gig, and I guess I was the guy for the job according to the school, so I was very happy about that.”

Now as director, Hamaker has responsibilities that range from helping set up matches with other schools and communicating with other team’s Directors, to determining team finances or setting up schedules. 

“I have to deal with budgeting, team management, program management, making sure we are abiding by the school and NAIA guidelines, as well as tech support, fixing problems, and even recruiting. It’s all definitely new to me.”

His first season definitely has had unexpected challenges. But he says those lasting relationships he formed with the athletes enabled Hamaker to be able to tackle this new position with help.

“Some of the senior guys, a lot of the veteran’s in the program have definitely helped me out, helped show me the ropes.”

Working Hard

Hamaker and the team’s hard work has clearly been paying off this season, with every single SAU Esports team making playoffs, including their JV teams. The teams took everything they’ve learned this year, and built it off of a very successful previous season.

“Last year we had a couple of our teams make it to the semi finals, and sadly we didn’t have any of our teams win outright, but that’s what we are hoping to have this year.”

Hamaker says he is moving full speed ahead for his Esport program, putting in the time and effort to make sure his athletes have the best possible environment to play their best and find a winning season. He also has big ideas and hopes for the future of Esports at SAU.

“We are trying to have a third room that we could use as a streaming room, or maybe a chill lounge or recreational area for our athletes. Long term goals I wanna see Ambrose’s Esports program become one of the top 25, top 50 programs in the nation. There’s always going to be the big Division 1 schools, but you will also find top notch programs at smaller schools purely because of how the team is run and who they are. I’d like to see that for us.”

The future is bright for SAU Esports, as Hamaker says he wants to see continued growth on the team and in the program. With 50 current athletes he wants to see numbers skyrocket to 70 and beyond. 

“We’d love to get some more women on the teams, maybe more international students as well. We have lots of goals in mind.”

The Bee’s Esports teams continue through their seasons, as some programs have playoff hopes, just on the horizon.