ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Aaron Stiles spent the majority of his time as a teenager engaged in two activities – playing soccer and gaming.

"I played club soccer, that was my main focus, and I played Call of Duty," Stiles said. "I'd go to soccer, then after I'd play Call of Duty."

Stiles now has the opportunity to share his passion for gaming as the head coach of Roberts Wesleyan University's eSports program.

A native of Horseheads, N.Y., Stiles was hired to lead the Redhawks in November and has been busy recruiting since coming on board.

The Redhawks have added seven new members to the program since Stiles came on board and are looking to add three more players to the current roster of nine before the season starts on Feb. 2.

"I'm super excited to be at the collegiate level," Stiles said. "It's a great way to get a lot of students participating and a lot of players playing. I'm really excited about Roberts because it is a fresh start and the sky is the limit."

The Redhawks will be playing Rocket League, League of Legends, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate this season. Stiles, who holds a degree in film and video production from SUNY-Fredonia, has previous experience working as an eSports coach running camps for the YMCA and conducting events for a company called Tech Adventure.

Stiles and his wife, Grace, who is the Senior Director of Clinical Education at Roberts have a 3-year-old son, Owen. He also works as a licensed home inspector and with his father's video production company. In his spare time, he enjoys gaming and playing hurling and Gaelic football with Roc City Gaelic.

Stiles took a few minutes to share more information about the eSports program and himself. Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What are the benefits of eSports being a part of the athletic department?
"I think being part of the athletic department makes the competitors that play for eSports feel like part of the team and part of the college. We don't just have our own little space, we're part of the monthly meetings and part of the Roberts Redhawks. We are the Redhawks, we have jerseys and we represent our team just like everybody else. I think it helps us with community, it helps the students feel connected and feel like they're a part of something bigger than themselves."

How does an eSports competition work?
"We play online for the majority of the season. Then there's something called a LAN (local area network), where everybody comes together and plays in the same area across the table from each other. During the season, we'll play weekly matches between other colleges. You play a best-of-three, so the team that wins two of them wins and gets a point. You pretty much go through the bracket and get seeding for the end of the season tournament and playoffs."

What do you enjoy most about sharing your passion for competitive gaming with others?
"I really like the idea of people being able to compete with people that they normally would never have the ability to, because we can compete with people from Indiana, people from Florida, people from Virginia. It doesn't cost anything. We can just get online and play people and connect with people that you normally wouldn't get the opportunity to if you're playing a traditional sport because you are kind of limited to how much you can travel and how available you are to travel. For us, we can just log in and play with somebody from across the country, have a good time, compete and learn."

Do you think that playing traditional sports helps you with eSports and vice versa?
"A lot, actually. I think eSports helps me play traditional sports more than traditional sports help me play eSports because a lot of eSports is about reaction time, communicating and adapting. In basic communications for gaming, everything you'll hear is one syllable. That's why there's so many acronyms  that don't make any sense, because everything needs to be one syllable long and you need to say it quickly and efficiently. If you listen to the best teams in eSports, the main thing that they're the best at is communicating. When you take that into a traditional sport, people are usually not the best at communicating. … In a lot of sports, you need to be talking with your team almost the whole game, in eSports, there's nothing but communication, so you have to communicate the whole time, it kind of trains your brain to be communicating."

How did you get interested in hurling?
"I went to Ireland, I saw it, then I had to start playing."

What is it like to compete in hurling?
"It's tough, it's really a tough sport. Hard and tough as in getting hit and injured a lot, hard as in it's hard to learn, but it is extremely rewarding and fun once you get good at it."

If somebody is interested in learning more about the eSports program, should they reach out to you?
"Yes, if you click on the eSports website at robertsredhawks.com, you can find my contact information. People can also email me at stiles_aaron@roberts.edu.

Is there anything more that you would like to add?
"I'd love to have students come check out the eSports space. A lot of people haven't seen it or heard about it. Once the season starts, we'll be doing practices two to three  times a week. If anyone wants to pop in during our practices in Anderson Hall and see what we're all about, I'd love to show them. And, if anybody wants to join after seeing, that'd be even better."