Full Sail Stories

For Full Sail grad Sebastian Morales, joining Full Sail Armada started as a pastime while completing his bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts. At the time, the aspiring musician and Marine Corps veteran was a casual gamer looking to be a part of a community while in school. Little did he know that this extracurricular activity would lead to an exciting career in collegiate esports.

“I was always gaming. I started playing video games before I can even remember on PlayStation 1 and Super Nintendo, but I never actually competed,” says Sebastian.

“[During my bachelor’s] I ended up joining the Rocket League team at Full Sail. I was quickly promoted to captain, then coach, and team manager, I wore a million different hats while I was on the team. That's kind of where my love for esports came from.”

After completing his bachelor’s, Sebastian decided to utilize his remaining military benefits and enroll in the Entertainment Business master’s program with a concentration in sports. Sebastian dove headfirst into the world of esports, focusing his studies on esports organizations and collegiate programs while continuing to play for Armada as a student player.

“It was awesome. I was playing Rocket League as much as I could. Then, from there, I kind of fell in love with that team management role,” says Sebastian. “So I approached the Armada managers Jameson [Durall] and Hoyt [Dingus] and I was just like, ‘How do I do this as a career?’ And they both gave me incredible insight.”

Upon completion of his master’s degree, Sebastian returned to his home state of New Jersey and began looking for any opportunity in the field of competitive gaming. Applying to dozens of positions across the US, Sebastian was met with a resounding number of "no"s.

“After your 20th 'no,' you're just like, ‘Okay, this kind of sucks.’ After your 40th, you're starting to feel your confidence is shifting…And then after the 60th 'no', you're kind of questioning everything really at that point.”

But Sebastian remained steadfast in his determination, continuing to apply and interview for positions while working part-time in neighboring Philadelphia to build the esports program at Williamson College.

“It's kind of funny because I took 'no' as an answer 60 times, but I never took 'no' as an answer for myself. So I kept applying, I kept interviewing, I kept going into every single interview with the same confidence that I did the first time.”

After months of searching, the grad finally found a full-time position as the Esports Coordinator for Daytona State College, bringing him back to Florida and his collegiate esports roots. Since joining the team at Daytona, Sebastian has been able to help build up successful competitive rosters that are putting the junior college’s varsity program on the map.

“We won a national championship in Super Smash Bros. for NJCAA, so the best junior college in the United States for Smash. The semester after that, this past fall, my Rocket League team wins.

“When Rocket League won, that was full circle because that was the game that got me into this in the first place. I was hearing the casters say, ‘Daytona State, your new National Champions.’ And I was just like, ‘Dammit.’ I started crying. I was like, ‘Oh man, this actually happened.’”

For those fearful of the daunting realities of the job hunt, Sebastian encourages patience, saying, “You put so much time into going to school, picking people's brains that are doing this job, trying to better prepare yourself to have this position, you're taking on these internships, these part-time jobs and everything. You put so much time in, it's going to be your time. You can get these 64 'no's, but once you get that one 'yes,' that one 'yes' will change everything. So just don't quit.”