Point Park Esports Team Takes the Controls and Delivers a Live Rocket League Tournament Friday, April 17, 2026

Members of the Point Park University esports team played an integral role in organizing a high school Rocket League tournament, gaining hands-on experience in a constantly evolving industry.

The tournament was designed to benefit both the high school athletes — by allowing them to experience a proper competitive tournament with a full streaming production — and the college team members, who organized and ran the event, under the guidance of Coach Chris Gaul.

Gaul described the roles Point Park students played: “We had students handling photography, video production, broadcast and event management, all in a live environment where things don't always go according to plan. That's exactly the kind of pressure you can't reliably convey in a classroom.”

The esports team is made up of both athletes and content creators, and those content creators get practice at every match. But this externally facing event — with cash prizes on the line for the high school athletes — added pressure in a good way.

Gaul continued, “They had to communicate across groups, adapt on the fly and deliver a polished product to an audience that was watching and expecting quality. Those are really important professional skills, and they got to build them in a context that actually manifested into something real.”

Caleb Knox, a senior sports communication major with a minor in PR, advertising and social media, and the captain of the university's Rocket League team, served as the tournament director.

In his preparations, Knox worked with the venue, created the rulebook, communicated with the high school coaches and coordinated with the university student leads to get work done, such as score reporting, broadcasting, graphics and more.

“I'm incredibly proud that this was primarily a student production,” Knox said. “I think it goes to show that there are many areas of esports in which people can apply themselves. People had the opportunity to use their experience in marketing, public relations, photography, videography, broadcast production, event management and so many more skills that can be learned here at Point Park.”

Knox oversaw the other student leaders, including Casey Kopetchny, who served as the photography and videography lead, and Devin Frank, who created the graphics.

Kopetchny, a sophomore film production and business management double major, worked with other esports content creators to capture the event and then compiled them for social media.

“Coordinating the photography and videography for this event has given me great experience that aligns with my career,” Kopetchny said. “I made so many great memories, and I look forward to doing more work for the esports program.”

Frank, a freshman film production major with a minor in psychology, serves on the content creation team, creating graphics such as YouTube video thumbnails, editing videos, managing the live stream, casting and more.

For the tournament, Frank served as the graphic lead, designing the bracket designs in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. “They have become highlights of my design portfolio,” Frank said. “The tournament was a blast to work on and collaborate with my peers.”

Of course, not everything went precisely as expected — another learning experience.

“There were some things I definitely learned during the tournament; the biggest one for me was planning the timing of the event,” Knox said, citing difficulty in estimating how long the elimination rounds would take.

Kopetchny, on her feet the whole time shooting photo and video throughout that extra-long process, left with a very practical lesson: “My biggest takeaway from this was to wear comfortable shoes!”

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