From the Soccer Field to the Winner’s Circle: How One Maryville Sophomore Found a New Path Through Esports

When Maryville University's Valorant club team clinched the NACE Grand Finals championship this fall, the moment was meaningful for every player on the roster. But for sophomore Paige Kessler, it meant something even deeper: a comeback story two years in the making.

A Sudden Detour

Growing up in St. Charles, Paige lived and breathed soccer. She competed at a national level, spent weekends traveling for tournaments, and imagined a future playing at the collegiate level. "It was my life," she says. "It took up my time, my energy - but I loved it."

Everything changed after a car accident left her with a brain injury and severely impaired eyesight. Just like that, the sport she'd built her identity around was gone.

"It felt like my life was taken away in a moment," Paige recalls. "I miss being proud of myself for something. I missed seeing achievements that came from my hard work."

Gaming as Therapy - and a New Beginning

Esports wasn't new to Paige - she grew up gaming casually with her dad - but she'd never entered the competitive scene.

That changed when her doctor recommended gaming as a form of vision therapy, helping rebuild reaction time, tracking, and focus. She joined an all-female team called "Harmony Amethyst," as part of the VCT Game Changers Academy League, and discovered a community, a new challenge, and a new sense of belonging.

Esports overall remains male-dominated and as Paige explained, "it is definitely harder, both mentally and opportunity-wise to succeed in Esports, as a girl."

"I had faced some hate, some setbacks, but I always found people that supported me - and Maryville is a big part of that support system: from the teammates, staff, and other teams as well," said Paige. "It also gives me equal opportunities as my male teammates, without having to work harder for that opportunity."

Choosing Maryville: A Home Close to Home

With Maryville just a short drive from St. Charles - and already known as a global Esports powerhouse - enrolling felt like a natural next step. Earlier this year, Maryville's Esports program celebrated its 10th anniversary with one of its most successful seasons ever - with athletes in the program also maintaining a 3.65 average GPA for the year.

"I came into this new scene and found a pre-built community waiting for me," she says. "It was insane - in a good way - to suddenly have so many friends, teammates, and people who supported me."

She will never forget the first time she played with her Maryville teammates in person in the newly-constructed Saints Gaming Lounge . "I had two of my really good friends next to me and our other teammates next to them. We were hyping each other up, and some people would stand and cheer when we did something cool. I remember it was so fun and so intense - I hadn't felt that way in so long."

A Championship Moment

This fall, Paige and her teammates earned a championship title at the NACE Grand Finals. For Paige, it wasn't just a win - it was a validation she'd been missing since her accident.

"My team didn't realize how much that victory meant to me," she says. "Even if it's just a club league, I helped my team accomplish something real. For the first time in years, I felt genuinely proud of myself again."

Studying the Future She Wants to Build

At Maryville, Paige is majoring in game design with a minor in marketing, with the goal of building a career in the industry that helped her rebuild herself. Maryville's Interactive Design, Concentration in Game Design is a focused professional degree designed to prepare students for professions that create or implement design focusing on game-based media.

"I love this community. I love the people I've met. I want to stay in this world somehow," she says.

Looking back, Paige sees both loss and renewal - but also a sense of direction she didn't expect. "I felt like my life and love were ripped away suddenly," she says. "But now I finally have something to show that maybe I didn't fall into the wrong place."

With a championship under her belt and her sights set on the future, Paige is proving that sometimes a new dream can emerge exactly when the old one ends.

Watch a video of Paige and her teammates celebrating their championship win.