The IHSEA endeavors to create and foster competitive esports programs in all Illinois high schools by providing assistance, organizing tournaments, and presenting information to schools and advisers. These programs cultivate talents in potentially underserved populations and provide a pathway to college scholarships and careers in the gaming industry.
Contact usOur personnel volunteer their time to give our students the opportunities that they deserve through gaming and esports.
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Dalton McGhiey is the Head Coach of Esports for Springfield Public Schools and teaches science at Lanphier High School. He is the Executive Competition Officer for the Illinois High School Esports Association. He served as an educator and esports ambassador for the North American Scholastic Esports Federation and as a NASEF Fellow, worked to provide opportunities for all students to use esports as a platform to acquire critical communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills needed to thrive in work and in life. He has spoken at the National Association of Esports Coaches and Directors Conference on Leadership Development and also was the first Head Esports Coach at Lincoln Land Community College, leading the loggers to an NJCAA Rocket League National Championship. He received the 2022 Horace Mann Rising Star Award in Springfield Public Schools for outstanding new teachers. He has been seen on stage in various Springfield theatrical productions including Springfield Theater Center's Spring Awakening (Melchior) and The Legacy Theater's Newsies (Finch/Assistant Vocal Director). Coach McGhiey's two favorite video games of all time are Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) and Pokémon: Blue Version.
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Brock is a lifelong gamer and esports enthusiast. Head Coach and coordinator for Massac County High School esports. Brock is part of the Onboarding team with IHSEA as well as a member of the IHSA esports advisory panel. Through these platforms, Brock helps spread the positivity of esports as well as helps schools implement esports into their programs.
John is a lifelong gamer and someone who has enjoyed bringing esports to the small community he teaches at. He is the Science teacher, creator and coach of the Esports team at Edinburg High School. He has also been a coach of many other sports over the years, such as football and baseball. John is a big proponent of schools making activities like esports available to all students, as it will give some of them the opportunity to be in a club or organization at their school when they might have not joined anything without esports. His favorite video games would be the Halo and Assassin’s Creed franchise, along with the long running MMO World of Warcraft.
Ellie Bell is a coach for Minooka Esports and an American Sign Language Teacher at Minooka Community High School. She loves supporting students on their esports journey in a growing program and especially enjoys being a role model for women in esports. Ellie currently serves on the IHSA Esports Advisory Committee. In her free time, she enjoys being outside, playing with her cats, and working with families of children who are deaf and hard of hearing.
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Kyle Kowalski is an Industrial Technology teacher and one of the directors of the Esports program at York Community High School. Before he was a teacher he took on different roles in the automotive industry. Since moving into education in 2019, he has been coaching different games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, and Valorant. He is a proponent of camaraderie, collaboration, having fun through healthy competition, and will do what he can to help answer any questions or address any concerns anyone has.
These people are experts from around the U.S that help us steer the ship from above. Each Director has the best interest of students at heart, and carry that interest into every decision they make.
Ben has been competing and working in esports for nearly a decade. Starting his sophomore year at Mizzou, he organized coached the varsity League of Legends team. In 2018 he partnered with a local youth esports program called Ukatsu, a company that focused on teaching physical and mental health to gamers. There he coached Hickman High School through Ukatsu's local high school LoL LAN season. After graduation, he moved back to the Chicago suburbs to work in pharmasutical engineering but had a new found passion for coaching and scholastic esports. Working with his old high school, he founded and ran the esports program at Barrington High School. In three years, they were able were able to grow from a new program to one that was competing for state and LAN wins across multiple titles, including a national top 8 finish in League of Legends. Ben joined the IHSEA personnel in 2020, and the Board of Directors in 2021.
Hello! My name is Dillon “MLBD” Kleinvehn. I am a former Challenger League of Legends player who competed for Miami University’s Varsity team. After graduating from MU, I spent two years casting amateur LoL events and grew intimately connected to the scene. Since then, I have begun my teaching career at Huntley High School, where I currently serve as the Credit Recovery teacher and the head of the new Esports Club. I have also started playing Pokémon VGC, where I managed to almost qualify for the 2023 World Championships. I am excited for the future of the IHSEA!
I have been a lifelong resident of Central Illinois. I grew up on a farm around Atlanta, IL, lived in Normal, IL for approximately eight years when not in school, and now currently reside in Lincoln, IL. I currently have offices in Lincoln, IL and in Clinton, IL. After law school I opened my own practice and have operated said practice in excess of ten years. I started out as a general practitioner and while that may still be somewhat true today, the majority of my practice concerns municipal matters (i.e. representing cities/towns). I am currently the City Attorney for both Lincoln, IL and Clinton, IL.
