Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Coston.
Hi Andrew, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The Midlands Gaming Coalition came out of a need that I saw in the community for a safe place for young adults to explore their passions in gaming. I wanted to create an environment where the youth in our community can learn the same core values kids would normally learn in more traditional sports, including teamwork, leadership, sportsmanship, and how to win and lose with grace (more emphasis on how to lose without yelling at a TV). We’ve spent the last four years cultivating a community in our area and building a curriculum for a youth program targeting middle and high school-aged youth using video games as a doorway to explore the topics of communication, teamwork and strategic thinking. The idea is that having this structured environment will help young adults focus their passion, take what they love about video games and use these concepts to better their personal lives outside the game within their families, friend groups, and school.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not always been smooth. This takes a lot of time and dedication to build and we have a very small team which mostly consists of me. I’ve built everything we have while working another full-time job. So, my nights and weekends are used to work on the Midlands Gaming curriculum, build community relationships with partners, plan upcoming events, and try to get our youth program off the ground. We hit a major setback with COVID as we were in talks with several school districts in the area at the time to start connecting local schools for competition play. All plans were put on hold when everything shut down and we had to take several steps back and put a lot of our plans on hold for expansion. We still haven’t recovered fully from that slowdown, but it forced us to really focus on building a better curriculum that would benefit the youth community here in SC. I think it was a real blessing and gave us that time we really needed to make sure what we do isn’t thrown together so quickly that it wouldn’t have the effect we would want. I think all the struggle we’ve had so far has made our programming that much better.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I think what sets us apart from a lot of other organizations that focus on E-sports is that we are approaching this with a nonprofit mindset. We aren’t here to make a ton of money. We believe in the good that gaming can do in our communities and we want to be the champion of that. The other key factor that sets us apart from organizations that do something similar is our curriculum that I am particularly proud of. It really focuses on getting young adults to explore different concepts and builds communication, team building, and strategic thinking skills. We’re focused on building a better community by providing a space for youth to grow and cultivate their passions while gaming. The programming that we have not only helps kids to be better communicators and team players, it also teaches the importance of limiting game time and being active. We view ourselves as growing towards a holistic approach and being a place that uses video games as a gateway to exciting paths young adults can take to better their own lives.
How do you think about happiness?
What makes me happy is serving my community and helping make it better for everyone. I like being proud of the work I do. I’ve worked in plenty of jobs that I’m not proud of and it never filled me with any sense of meaning other than providing for my family, but being able to serve the community I’m in gives me a greater sense of purpose. It provides me with a meaning that money just can’t. The Midlands Gaming Coalition is really something that makes me happy because I see the impact it has on so many young adults. MGC really has become what I envisioned it to be years ago in that it’s a safe space for everyone to come and enjoy playing together. We lack places like this and we want to be able to give that back to our community for free. It takes a lot of work, but at the end of the day, I’m happy with the service I can provide to my community.
Pricing:
- Most of our events are free to attend
- Our summer camp is $150
- Our larger youth program is TBD
Contact Info:
- Website: MidlandsGaming.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midlandsgaming/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GamingMidlands
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GamingMidlands
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3cS48ik9j1bbffINKMqpDA
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@midlandsgaming
Image Credits
Santanna Hayes
