14 — Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

UMich Esports benefits from recreational 

sports status, virtual features

The 
COVID-19 
pandemic 

has sidelined most aspects of 

typical club sports, derailing 

practice 
schedules 
and 

throwing competitions out the 

window. The UMich Esports 

team, though, felt right at home 

with the switch to a virtual 

landscape.

The impact of the pandemic 

on 
the 
outside 
world 
has 

pushed many into the virtual 

space in which esports teams 

have 
traditionally 
resided, 

potentially 
boosting 
the 

validity 
of 
esports 
in 
the 

minds of some fans moving 

forward. This can be seen with 

the increase in popularity of 

Twitch — a platform where 

fans can watch professional or 

recreational esports online — 

streams during the spring and 

summer.

That boost in popularity has 

led to Michigan esports earning 

recreational sports status.

In its first year under the 

jurisdiction 
of 
Michigan’s 

recreational sports department, 

the Wolverines have still been 

able to power through their 

schedule 
full 
of 
practices, 

scrimmages and tournaments — 

with more yet to come. Training 

and competing remotely had 

been a staple of Michigan’s 

teams prior to the pandemic, 

ever since they lost access to 

their usual meeting spots when 

they became a recreational 

sport over the summer.

Those 
meetings 
used 
to 

take place at the Ross School 

of Business, where the team 

began as a student organization 

in 2015 under the direction of 

founder Tony Yuan, a former 

Michigan student. Now hosting 

teams across 10 different games 

— including “Counter-Strike: 

Global 
Offensive,” 
“Rocket 

League” 
and 
“League 
of 

Legends” — the team’s growth 

into a recreational sport came 

at the cost of their typically 

held rooms at Ross. 

While functioning has proven 

easier for the Wolverines than 

many other club sports, teams 

across its 10 different games 

have lost the opportunity to 

host in-person events that drew 

in new players and fans.

Recruiting new members for 

each game occurred virtually 

this 
season, 
and 
although 

networking 
online 
paled 

in 
comparison 
to 
previous 

in-person events, Michigan was 

still able to draw in community 

members 
and 
competitive 

players to its Discord server.

Outside of bolstering their 

ranks, the Wolverines want 

to create an effective virtual 

presence. With so many teams 

and players to keep track of, 

communicating 
schedules 

and scores to fans has proven 

difficult.

A virtual community isn’t the 

only home Michigan is trying 

to build. In a post-pandemic 

world, the Wolverines want to 

acquire an in-person facility 

where 
teams 
can 
practice, 

compete and, most importantly, 

bond.

“It is very helpful to have 

a space on campus where we 

could go and our teams could 

compete in the same room 

and just help build that team 

chemistry in a way that simply 

speaking through Skype or 

a Discord voice chat doesn’t 

really promote,” the team’s 

vice president, sophomore Seth 

Izzard, said.

 

That chemistry used to be 

created through the team’s 

in-person local area network 

events 
where 
casual 
and 

competitive 
players 
would 

meet up and play a variety of 

games together. The ongoing 

pandemic forced Michigan to 

cease holding those meetups.

Building connections can be 

the deciding factor between a 

skilled roster and a winning 

team. Those communication 

skills 
and 
familiarities, 

something Michigan’s teams 

utilize frequently, can make a 

difference when facing other 

skilled teams.

“We’re 
almost 
like 
a 

family,” senior Ryan Foley, 

Rocket League director, said. 

“We all respect each other, 

we’re all really good friends, 

even in real life, so it makes 

it a lot better. (In Rocket 

League) 
maybe 
we’re 
not 

the best players, but we’re 

always one of the best teams 

because we have really good 

communication, and we enjoy 

playing with each other.”

In 
order 
to 
fund 
a 

physical home to build those 

relationships, the Wolverines 

hope to find funding through 

their newly-christened status 

as a recreational sport. Future 

sponsorships 
and 
budgeting 

will now be coordinated with 

University support.

In the meantime, Michigan 

looks forward to another perk 

of joining Rec Sports: Giving 

Blue Day. The online event, 

set to take place March 10, 

is a 24-hour donation drive 

where 
alumni, 
companies 

and community members can 

support 
Michigan 
student 

programs.

Michigan 
also 
now 
has 

automatic access to Festifall, 

something the team can use to 

its advantage when in-person 

recruiting events are safe again.

While stuck at its virtual 

home for the time being, the 

momentum 
the 
Wolverines 

have built has created feelings 

of pride and hope for their 

members. 
Some 
even 
look 

forward to a future home in the 

athletic department as a varsity 

sport, a long-term goal of the 

Wolverines.

“Esports 
viewership 
is 

skyrocketing, but it’s still 

not at the same level as your 

football, or your basketball or 

your soccer (games),” Izzard 

said. “And that has actually 

been helped by the COVID-

19 situation because so many 

people are at home and the 

traditional 
sports 
aren’t 

competing at the same level.”

While future growth plays 

into 
the 
team’s 
planning, 

UMich Esports also wants 

to make its impact felt right 

now.

Izzard said that he hopes 

breaking down the stigma 

surrounding esports will drive 

improvements 
surrounding 

the 
team’s 
community 

events. With more resources 

and a permanent home, the 

Wolverines can show that 

esports is a legitimate team 

worthy of one day attaining 

varsity status.

CONNOR EAREGOOD

Daily Sports Writer

Courtesy of Charles Hinkley

UMich Esports is finding ways to grow its brand in spite of the 
pandemic.

‘M’ flips Benny, 
adds three DTs on 

National Signing Day

After 
an 
Early 
Signing 

Day headlined by talent on 

the offensive side of the ball, 

Michigan addressed its biggest 

need on Wednesday, defense, 

with three signees on National 

Signing Day.

All 
three 
signees 
were 

defensive tackles, a position 

at 
which 
the 
Wolverines 

have little depth. That lack of 

depth showed in the defense’s 

performance this year, and 

in the early period, Michigan 

failed to add a single player at 

the position.

However, 
the 
Wolverines 

were able to flip four-star 

Rayshaun Benny — now the 

sixth-rated 
commit 
in 
the 

class — from Michigan State, 

where he had committed after 

the Spartans beat Michigan in 

October.

The Wolverines also flipped 

three-star Ikechukwu Iwunnah 

from Colorado and added a late 

commitment, four-star George 

Rooks.

After Jim Harbaugh inked 

an extension in December, he 

revamped his staff, going much 

younger and fortifying both 

the offensive and defensive 

staffs with more recruiters. The 

National Signing Day returns 

seem to vindicate that strategy. 

According to 247Sports, new 

co-defensive coordinator Mike 

Macdonald was one of the 

primary recruiters for Iwunnah, 

while 
Benny 
and 
Rooks 

were primarily recruited by 

defensive line coach Shaun Nua 

and co-offensive coordinator 

Sherrone Moore.

Even after a 2-4 season, 

Michigan was able to land five 

of the top 15 players in the state, 

according to the 247Sports 

composite. Following Benny’s 

last-minute 
flip, 
none 
of 

those 15 players signed with 

Michigan State. (Penn State 

had four, Northwestern two, 

and Alabama, Notre Dame, 

LSU and Nebraska secured one 

each.)

With the new additions, the 

Wolverines have the 10th-best 

2021 class in the country and 

second-best in the Big Ten 

behind Ohio State. The class 

ranks as the fourth best in the 

Harbaugh era.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Shaun Nua landed three commitments along the defensive line after 
Michigan failed to sign a defensive tackle in December.

Steve Shields accomplishes his goal as development director

Over his 30-year relationship 

with the Michigan hockey team, 

Steve Shields has held a lot of 

different titles — player, coach, 

director — but, through it all, 

one thing has stayed the same: 

He’s been looking out for others.

That role, though, goes back 

much further than 30 years. 

Shields was adopted from a 

foster home when he was just a 

couple months old. Growing up 

with his adopted parents and 

sister in North Bay, Ontario 

— the Canadian equivalent to 

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula — 

Shields never considered being 

adopted to be anything out of 

the ordinary. It wasn’t until he 

was older that he realized his 

experience differed from most 

of his friends and had most 

likely shaped who he is today. 

“When you’re an adopted kid, 

you have that innate feeling, that 

instinct that you were left or 

abandoned at some point when 

you were very young,” Shields 

says. “When you’re growing up 

adopted, there’s an instinctual 

feeling that you don’t have that 

unconditional love. So what do 

you do when you don’t have that 

unconditional love? You please 

people so they don’t leave you. 

You can come to terms with that 

as you grow up if you deal with 

it, but it never really goes away.” 

As an adopted child, Shields 

feels he’s much more aware 

of how others perceive him. 

While that can have negative 

consequences, he thinks it’s the 

reason he’s always gravitated 

towards those who need help, 

something he does every day 

in his role as director of player 

development. 

***

When Shields graduated from 

Michigan, he knew very little of 

life outside of hockey.

As 
a 
goaltender 
for 
the 

Wolverines, 
Shields’s 
world 

revolved around practices at 

Yost Ice Arena and his classes. 

He graduated in 1994 with a 

bachelor’s degree in education, 

but very few practical skills 

that would help him get a job. 

When asked if he was focused 

on his future at that age, Shields 

laughed.

“No, absolutely not. … I was 

solely focused on playing hockey. 

I had no idea that hockey could 

end in a day. Telling me that at 

that age would mean nothing to 

me.”

The 
opportunity 
to 
play 

professionally allowed Shields 

to put off his future a while 

longer. He played 12 years after 

college — 10 in the NHL — but 

eventually retired in 2006. 

By that time, Shields was in 

his mid-thirties with little idea 

of what to do next. 

“I didn’t know anybody,” 

Shields said. “First of all, I didn’t 

have any idea how to network. I 

didn’t know what my options 

were, I didn’t know what my 

interests were and I didn’t know 

what I was good at.”

He 
spent 
a 
couple 
years 

working in software development 

and bouncing between different 

pet projects, but he found himself 

drawn to positions where he 

could help others. Shields has 

always felt an innate ability to 

sense when someone is stressed 

or unhappy, and he wanted to put 

that skill to use. 

Two years after leaving the 

world of hockey, he jumped back 

in with a new purpose: helping 

players reach their full potential 

on the ice. Shields worked as 

an assistant coach under then-

Michigan 
Tech 
coach 
Mel 

Pearson before joining Florida 

Panthers’ coaching staff in 2013 

as a goaltending consultant. 

In 2015, Shields returned 

to Ann Arbor to assist with 

the goaltenders under then-

Michigan coach Red Berenson. 

And as he worked with more 

and more players over the years, 

he started to see a hole in the 

system, the same hole that had 

left him feeling so unprepared 

years earlier. 

While the University offers 

countless resources for student-

athletes, Shields found that his 

hockey players weren’t taking 

advantage of them. 

“When 
a 
student 
athlete 

comes to Michigan, they have 

two things that are mandatory: 

They have to go to class, and 

they play on their team,” Shields 

said. “The hole in the system 

is that anything that has to do 

with their future in the business 

world or life after Michigan is 

optional for them when they 

have time.”

Here, he saw his opportunity 

to help. 

He pitched his idea, first 

to Berenson, then to Pearson 

when he replaced Berenson. 

Pearson approved, and Shields 

became the program’s first 

director of player development 

— a position he’s held for the 

past two years. 

He 
works 
closely 
with 

athletes and advisors, serving 

as a “touchpoint” between the 

two to make sure the hockey 

players don’t get lost in the 

shuffle. Michigan’s Athletics 

Career Center consists of only 

two staff members for 900 

athletes.

While his job isn’t to prepare 

the players for any certain 

career, his goal is to get them 

to think about a future outside 

of hockey — a Herculean task 

when you consider most of his 

players are primarily focused 

on making it to the NHL. 

“For how many of those guys 

is it going to work out where 

they play in the NHL, retire 

from hockey and never have 

to worry about finances or a 

career?” Shields said. “One or 

2% of the time.”

Shields 
starts 
small. 

Initially, he just asks the 

younger players to identify 

interests and skills they have 

off the ice. He knows that it’s 

unrealistic to get any of these 

players to focus on a career, 

but he hopes his work will get 

them a little more prepared for 

whatever life has in store after 

graduation. The hockey team 

was the first at Michigan to 

have all their players make a 

resume.

As much as Shields still loves 

the game of hockey, he’s happy 

with his current role and can’t 

imagine a return to coaching. 

To be a coach, you have to put 

the total wins and losses about 

all else, something Shields 

doesn’t think he can do. 

“The score of our games is 

probably the least important 

thing to me,” Shields said. “So, 

does that make me coaching 

material long term? Probably 

not.” 

But 
being 
“coaching 

material” isn’t Shields’s goal. 

Now, he wants to help players 

access resources that he didn’t 

have.

LANE KIZZIAH

Managing Sports Editor

LUKE HALES/Daily

For the past two years, Steve Shields has served as Michigan’s Director of Player Development, helping players 
prepare for life outside of hockey.