My name is Alexander Rodriguez, you can call me Alex. A lot of people may know me as “Axeltoss” in the competitive video game world. I have been asked to write a bit of a blog towards the sd-gaming community, so here I am! My main role and job title recently has been as an “E sports commentator” as I’ve worked with companies like Blizzard, Major League Gaming, and Red Bull, assisting and lending my energy towards various E sports events and initiatives around the world. 

I am from Texas, a massive state in the United States known for rodeos, cowboys boots, and horseback riding. Growing up I never found myself too much involved in these “western”, as they say, festivities. Texans are kind of known for being overly enthusiastic to everyone they meet and having a gentlemanly charm about them which helps with the ladies, so it is safe to say I’m a proud Texan. I grew up as an avid soccer player which transitioned to a bit of a career on the track, I am 195 centimeters tall so the longer distances were a natural fit to me. Competition always charged a deeper energy within me, I found myself always eager to push myself to the limits. When I discovered that online battlefields existed and the opportunity to compete among an international community, I leaped into the competition and immediately sought the most difficult challenge and stage, which I concluded to be Starcraft.

For those not aware, Starcraft is a highly competitive 1vs1 hyper-strategy game. The game can never be conquered and the bar is set by 6-digit money making professionals around the world. It is a game that will slap you in the face and kick you while you are down. There is absolutely no one to blame but yourself for a loss. This excited me. I jumped in and immediately set out to improve and inevitably discovered the universe that exploded behind the scenes of competitive video games; the “E sports” movement. I knew I wanted to become involved as more than just a player.

I had always retained an active interest in competition and sports, and held onto a passive interest of being involved somehow with the presentation of a product, adding to the energy that brings the crowd to their feet and provides inspiration for others around the world. When I first began investigating opportunities among the E sports space I knew I wanted to be involved as much as possible, I wanted to contribute, to share the excitement that I felt with others. I arrived at the conclusion after evaluating myself that I could speak pretty fast and didn’t have a terrible speaking voice, so I went and bought a microphone and started streaming and creating Starcraft media while attending classes at University. 

Now that I have answered the most common question I receive, “How did you get into it?”, I’d like to move on to some really cool things I’ve learned and some awesome elements of the space I’ve been involved with over the last few years.

New friends and new communities. These two elements might be the factors that have provided the most fuel to me as to why I have enjoyed the space as much as I have. There are a lot of really cool things happening in the world right now. The fact that I can wake up and turn on a machine that connects me with most of the people around the world is simply phenomenal. And with this phenomenon comes oodles of opportunity. You don’t have to be a superstar, you don’t have to have 25 different degrees from the most prestigious colleges in the world, you don’t have to know someone or rely on luck. Any person, anywhere, can start their machine and start making an impact and a difference. The community will happily support intelligent ideas and plans as various models are attempted and as the scene evolves. 

With this in mind I held nothing back when I first got started. Meet and work with as many people as possible. I explored my surroundings in Texas. I found a pro team being developed whose owner lived two hours from me. I found a friend on my college campus who was a manager of professional players and entrepreneur of various initiatives. I connected with some fine folks attending a rival University two hours from me as well, we had similar interests and intrigue in the internet/E sports space, so we started brainstorming what we could do, what impact can we make.

The Lone Star Clash series was eventually created, a local tournament in Texas that drew international attention. I scoured the internet looking for opportunity, applications for my interests. I began traveling and meeting like-minded individuals, which was incredibly exciting. I am privileged to have made most of my best friends by being involved with this space.

E sports is budding, new, international, and exciting. There is plenty of room for great ideas, explorers of this new vessel. A full launch towards the mainstream is inevitable, I think. I will be doing what I can to continue providing a service utilizing myself and the people around me. It’s something different, and belongs to all of us, really. 

So there you go, a few thoughts on the current E sports landscape, and some interesting tidbits from my history.

GG and have fun!