Corcoran High School 2020 graduate Kobe Valle is currently attending Fresno State and is a member of their Esports Gaming Team. Valle is on the Overwatch Blue Esport team.
The 19 year-old who is the son of Richard Valle and Nicole Collins of Corcoran began his gaming career when he was just eight years-old. His onscreen gaming name is KCV999. His esports career at Fresno State though began when he was applying to colleges.
“This all started when I was first looking at what colleges to attend and I saw that Fresno state announced their Esport teams for Overwatch, League of Legends, and Rocket League and that caught my interest. I’ve been a gamer my whole life and I’m really competitive but I was never too interested in traditional sports so seeing an opportunity to compete at a collegiate level in video games was something I couldn’t pass up,” Kobe said.
His favorite thing about being on the Esports team for Fresno State are his teammates.
“The best thing so far, has been building comradery with my teammates and going out and interacting with the community like when we had a booth at the Fresno Fair and an event at river park where we played other colleges in person in front of everybody,” added Valle.
Growing up Kobe has always been interested in competing in video games and he did compete in small tournaments throughout the years for Fortnite and at the Esports Arena in Irvine but he never thought he would have the opportunity to play video games on a team at the college level.
“My motivations to join the team were to put my skills to the test and also become more social and make friends,” Kobe noted.
In fact as Corcoran High School has gotten together an Esports team Kobe says his advice to those student athletes is to always be a supportive teammate.
“My advice to them would be to learn how to be a good positive teammate because that is just as important as being good at the game and if you are being really negative and bringing the vibes of the team down then you and your teammates won’t be able to play to your full potential,” Valle commented.
To get to play at the college level in Esports is a great accomplishment. Kobe says he wouldn’t be where he is today if it hadn’t been for the support he has received.
“My biggest supporters have always been my parents and I am very thankful that they not only encouraged my passion for gaming but also were active in helping me experience tournaments and take my gaming to the next level,” Kobe said.
To follow the Fresno State Esports teams visit their website at https://studentaffairs.fresnostate.edu/esports/index.html or follow their twitch channel at https://www.twitch.tv/fresnostatees.
Fresno State Esports officially launched in February 2020 with the creation of two varsity teams, League of Legends and Overwatch.
