Alex Rieffel of Senoia didn’t plan on owning an eSports league. In fact, he owns and operates several IT businesses. 

“Eight months ago, I was your typical dad. I had no idea anything about this stuff. I just knew that eSports was a thing. My son is 14 now. He was singing the same song that a lot of kids do with their parents in the Fortnite realm. He’s like, ‘Dad, I’m really good.’ And the realist in me is like, ‘Son, there’s 50 million kids who play this game. What are the odds that you’re that good? I’m trying to keep it in perspective, but at the same time, championing him. 

“He’s like, ‘No, I think I’m really good.’ So we started taking him to just some smaller events,” explained Rieffel. It turned out his son was right. He was really good. He was winning a lot of tournaments. Alex brought his research side out and tried to find out what the right fit for his son would be, even as professional teams were attempting to recruit his 13-year-old, once they got to DreamHack, a major competition. 

Alex felt that the XP League would be a good fit, and established his son Noah with their branch in Franklin, Tennessee. “My son is your pretty normal gamer kid. He hates traditional sports. He’s very introverted.”

In eSports Noah found confidence. “My son is flourished. He went from being introverted, doesn’t really want to talk to anybody, to now he talks to everybody. He talks to adults.”

Their experience at XP League Franklin was so good, that when the owner there was looking for a change due to medical issues, Alex bought the franchise. Now in addition to his IT businesses, Alex educates parents on the value of video games. 

“Half of my work week right now is educating parents and awakening them to the possibilities that are out there in terms of not just collegiate play. You have the professional side. You have the content creation side. You can even go into the military and do eSports for the military. They want those people who are playing first person shooters to come in and fly their drones. And a lot of people don’t even know that. So you no longer have to be an infantry person. You can just go and do eSports. 

“So there’s just a lot of possibility out there, and that’s part of what we’re doing at our location, is that we’re bringing in a lot of different partners to just educate the parents and the players alike that shoot for the moon. Everybody wants to go pro. That’s the dream. But the way we try and sell it is that you need to find your happy and somewhere along the way that there’s plenty of success doing something that you love and you can have a fruitful career. It doesn’t have to be going pro, but we’re going to try our best to get you there,” said Alex. 

It’s not just Noah that is successful in gaming. He has many students who are competitive. The team at XP League Franklin swept the awards at the recent North American finals in Orlando. His teams also traveled to DreamHack in Dallas in May and were in Tulsa for nationals a few weeks ago. 

Alex and his son still live in Senoia with their family of four, and Alex says that his team are based around the country—they can compete virtually. It’s a dream of Alex’s to have a more local office, but until then, local kids can practice virtually like Alex’s son and many of their other students. 

What kind of games does XP League Franklin compete in and who can play? They accept students, both boys and girls, at any level of play between ages seven to seventeen. Games taught and played include Fortnite, Rocket League, Overwatch, Valorant, Apex Legends, and Marvel Rivals is soon to come. They have both kids who are new to the game and kids who are in the top .01% in the country. 

Alex talks to parents all the time about the scholarships and future opportunities that are already available for kids who excel in eSports. And he said the landscape is only going to get more competitive. “The NCAA is getting involved now. So they’re going to start refereeing the eSports matches.”

In order to keep his son’s gaming schedule, Noah is homeschooled. He’s academically ahead and could graduate as soon as next year at age 15, but in order to improve his game they are slowing down his academics. 

With his time, Noah can build up his followers on his streaming platforms. At one point he was considering getting a part-time job at Chick-fil-A, until he figured out that he could make $100 an hour coaching other kids to play Fortnite, instead. Noah also makes money on his Twitch subscribers—people who just like to watch him play, and are willing to pay for the privilege.  

Alex sees the other students who compete with XP League Franklin also develop their natural gifts. “You see a lot of these kids come out of their shell. We celebrate their weird. The way I phrase it with them is, ‘I don’t want to hear you apologize for being you and liking what you like.’ We provide a place where they can play and flourish and grow and make friends along the way. We saw these kids in Orlando almost in tears because they win, and this is something they wanted so bad and they’ve worked so hard for, and the parents finally get it. This matters to them.”

At the recent Orlando finals put on by Full Sail, XP League Franklin won first place in four out of five of the contests, winning Overwatch, Rocket League, Apex Legends, and Valorant. “I like winning. Everybody enjoys a win. I don’t measure my success by the amount of hardware that’s on my shelf, the way we’re doing things is different. We’re going to change these kids to be better than they were yesterday. They’re going to be people of integrity and of character. They’re going to be leaders in their community just by their God-given talent that they have. We’re going to embrace that. We’re going to hone it. And if we do this right, if we do it the right way, then they’re going to win.”

It’s not just winning the contests, XP League Franklin’s coaching includes professional development for their gamers—training on how to develop and monetize their gaming, often taught by big influencers that they have partnerships with. 

“We have a partnership with about 300 universities right now that they’re pulling their talent pretty much exclusively from us. And it can go anywhere from a thousand dollars a semester all the way to a full ride. It just depends on your capability. It depends on the game. Some games, like Fortnite have a very limited scope in terms of scholarships. If you were to go Valorant or Overwatch, almost all of the schools offer scholarships for that.” 

Some schools like Georgia Tech field eSports teams, but don’t provide scholarships for them.  Alex says that’s common.  “And the reason is that they’re all just waiting.” Alex thinks that many universities are waiting on the NCAA involvement to begin offering scholarships for eSports. 

One major benefit of eSports is that you don’t have to encourage the kids to practice. They love it, so they do it, according to Alex. He said, “Most kids are probably going to do a minimum of 20 hours a week.” His more competitive kids are probably doing 40 to 50 hours of gaming each week.

Besides the military, Alex says that medical schools are also targeting gamers, according to recent headlines. “Because their hand-eye coordination is on average 20% better than their top surgeons and just by being a gamer.” 

“It’s been a stigma for so long that video games are the devil. But it’s not. They’re learning. Just because they’re not learning the way that you want them to, doesn’t mean they’re not developing. They’re building, they’re thinking outside of the box and they’re engaging other kids. They’re doing everything that you want them to do, just indoors. Now that there are possibilities, a ton of them, and it seems like every day there are more possibilities. There’s a healthy balance of understanding how the real world operates versus the digital world. But I don’t think a waste of time is an accurate phrase. I think it’s more of a non-traditional interest and we need to conventionalize it. It’s something that needs to be brought to the table because this is an identity that these kids are embracing and it’s becoming more and more common. This is the kid that’s no longer going to the traditional sports route because they don’t want to. And if it’s a future that you’re concerned about, your kid has a higher probability of getting a scholarship in eSports with zero risk of injury,” concluded Alex. 

Parents who are interested in having their kids train as gamers can visit www.xplfranklin.com. Alex says he offers a free practice session first. Coaching packages start at $149 a month with a three-month commitment. 

Fortnite fans who want to follow the gaming of Noah Rieffel can view his socials at youtube.com/@trxyhimself and tiktok.com/@trxyhimself. To book a private coaching session on Fortnite with Noah Rieffel contact [email protected].