This week’s #TeamUniSA Profile features a UniSA student who is also on the committee of our UniSA Esports Club, Emma Pretty. Emma has been our UniSport Nationals League of Legends Team Manager for the past three years and this year she played an instrumental role as a Game Administrator for our inaugural SA Challenge Esports Competition. Find out more about Emma below!
What course are you studying at UniSA?
I am currently in my fourth year (honours) of a Bachelor of Psychology, majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience.
What sports do you play or team manage?
I currently don’t play any sports, however I’ve been managing the university’s League of Legends team this year.
List your achievements with UniSA Sport as a Team Manager?
Over the past three years I’ve managed three different League of Legends teams as part of the Oceanic University Championship. This year’s team came first in their group at Regionals before moving on to Nationals where they placed ninth. Our placing in Regionals is an obvious success, but being able to say we are the ninth best university LoL team across the Oceanic Region (Australia and New Zealand) is a huge achievement.
Tell us about your most memorable moment as a Team Manager?
It would have to be the last game of the tiebreaker match for first place in Regionals. We were 1-1 against the University of Western Australia, and winning that match proved that UniSA could compete for the top. I also felt incredibly proud of the players for all of the hard work they’d put in.
What is your favourite aspect of being a Team Manager?
Watching a team of five complete strangers come together with the same goal, work hard to grow and learn together. The development that a team goes through over the course of a tournament is incredible and it is surprising just how fast this happens.
What skills have you developed from your role as a Team Manager?
First and foremost, patience. Circumstances can change very quickly and I now understand the value of being patient and calm during times when your players need you the most.
How do you connect with your team members online?
We have a Discord server, which is an online platform mainly used for gaming. It allows us to communicate via voice or text and is an excellent platform for growing a community like ours.
What music are you listening to at the moment?
A lot of video game soundtracks, such as the music from Final Fantasy. Aside from that I like to stick to old favourites such as Panic! At the Disco, My Chemical Romance and Arctic Monkeys.
Name some of your hobbies besides esports?
Playing video games, lifting weights and cooking.
What is something about you we wouldn’t know?
Part of this wouldn’t come as a surprise, but I would like to pursue a PhD that combines my love for esports and my major (cognitive neuroscience) in order to learn how to best optimise player performance and discover what differentiates casual players from esports athletes.