Meet Anaya Potter, college student and co-captain of her school’s League of Legends esports team
Esports is a rapidly growing industry, so it’s no surprise that an expanding number of colleges and universities are “pressing start” on their own programs and teams. For one college student and esports athlete, college gaming has not only been a source of comradery and community, but it’s also provided her with a platform to change the face of esports as a whole.
Anaya Potter is a senior at Iona University in New Rochelle, New York, who is the co-captain of the school’s League of Legends team. “I love gaming because I love sharing it with my friends,” Potter tells In The Know. “It’s been a big part of my college experience.”
Potter first heard about Iona’s esports program while she was perusing the school’s social media pages. One day, she decided to visit the game room, and struck up a conversation with the coach. “I was hearing about all these different games that they offered for esports, and I was like, ‘How about a League of Legends team?’” she says. “And that’s where the League of Legends team was born.”
League of Legends, or LoL, is a 5v5 arena game featuring various characters that each have their own powers and abilities. “The goal of the game is to reach the other team’s base and destroy it, and that’s where the victory comes in,” explains Potter. Each player has their own priorities, skill sets, and objectives, and constant communication and teamwork is key to winning.
While LoL is serious business, for Potter, her in-game teammates have grown into a tightly knit group of real-life companions.
“I gained a lot of friends here who were also gamers like me,” Potter tells In The Know. “That’s what makes gaming fun. I like the idea of a League of Legends esports team because I wanted to have communication that’s organic, and just getting that win together, you feel so great when everyone does their part and it folds in perfectly.”
As great as the victories are, for Potter–a woman in a male-dominated esports world–becoming accepted in the gaming space can sometimes feel like an uphill battle.
“Being a woman in esports, it can be challenging at times because online, women are not usually met with respect,” says the gamer. “Over the years, I’ve learned to not let that get to me. They don’t know me in real life, and they’re not going to stop me from playing the game.”
Beyond her own perseverance, Potter also wants to encourage more women to become involved in esports, starting with her own team at Iona. “Women shouldn’t be afraid if they want to jump into this league,” she tells In The Know. “We already have many interested female players, so we’ll see what happens next semester.”
Whether she’s commanding her LoL team in battle or helping to pave the way for inclusivity in esports, it’s clear that Potter is a formidable leader both in and out of the game.
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