Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel was one of the first big celebrities in the field of professional gaming. He has won a plethora of championships across multiple games and makes a living not only from gaming, but his gaming company, which sells a variety of related items sporting the Fatal1ty brand. Despite all of this, most would think that Fatal1ty is just a normal guy who isn’t treated with the celebrity status of the big names in Hollywood or professional sports. Those people would be completely wrong.

On June 26, Fatal1ty and Kat “Mystik” Gunn of the CAROLINA CORE took a trip to Palmdale High School in Southern California to visit a very special class of kids. At first glance, these kids may seem like normal high school students, but they were all aspiring gamers who joined Mr. Leonard Moreno’s FalconTech computer class. Here they learned how to market themselves as professional gamers and were provided with the tools they will need to either step into the pro gaming field, or take an alternate route into game design.

FalconTech students get the inside scoop on pro-gaming.

Their classroom is littered with 32 high-tech computer terminals all skillfully embedded into the desks, projectors playing Rock Band, and TV sets in the back with an Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Upon entering, Fatal1ty was swarmed by teenagers, as if he were Brad Pitt on the red carpet. A thundering applause erupted as Fatal1ty was asked to sign a multitude of autographs on posters, mouse pads, t-shirts, and various other items -- including one lucky gamer’s forehead. Mystik was treated to a similar response, but it was clear that Fatal1ty was the main attraction.

After Moreno went over the schedule of events with Fatal1ty and Mystik, it was time for the daily physical training workout. While most would assume that gaming has little to do with physical training, Fatal1ty and the students in the class believe that a healthy body improves in-game performance, especially at a professional level. Jumping jacks, sit-ups, and a lap around the field preceded a question-and-answer session with the two professional gamers.

“I train anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day,” stated Fatal1ty. “Sometimes I train more, but it just kind of depends on where I’m at in a game … but the thing is, I like to get my training in before I go to the mental part. And I think the mental part comes from exercising and it helps me perform on the third day of a tournament for the big championship match.”

During the Q&A the eager students asked about how the player’s parents reacted to professional gaming, how both players got into the industry, and the work ethic required to reach such a level. Fatal1ty answered a majority of the questions, including a few taunts to the students when asked about playing Unreal Tournament 2004 with them later in the day. Mystik fielded a few questions alongside Fatal1ty, and seemed to have the biggest impact on the students, thanks to the attendance of her mother and father. When asked about how her parents felt about professional gaming, Mystik was quick to point out her parents in the back of the room and explain that her entire family plays games daily and are very supportive of her professional gaming endeavors.

Mystik believes that a supportive family can really help a pro.

“Relating to a lot of gamers, a lot of the way they game has to do with their family back at home,” said Mystik. “Their parents don’t want them playing games, they think it’s bad for them or they think it’s unhealthy. A lot of the reason why people aren’t playing videogames is because of the way their family reacts to it. Luckily I’ve been fortunate enough to have my mom who plays Call of Duty 4 all day, my dad who plays FORZA and any driving game that comes out, and any steering wheel that’ll come out, too. And it’s really difficult when you don’t have people in your family that play games.”

Following the Q&A sessions, Fatal1ty and Mystik had the opportunity to judge the students’ projects. The basic premise of Moreno’s class is to teach the children how to market themselves as professional gamers. They are required to use video capture and editing software to create a highlight reel of their play, in addition to coming up with a custom gamertag (GT) to call themselves, creating an artistic image that represents that GT, and building various gaming-related items in a similar fashion to an art class.

“What we’ve done this year is that we tried to build a class. This entire time we’ve been doing an after-school club. You come in and it’s just a computer gaming club, but as an educator we need to find a way to combine that into the classroom,” explained Moreno. “What we did this summer is that we looked at competitive gaming, because we already have game design. We looked at what elements we need to add to this other than just the competitive side. We wanted to look at the sports aspect. That’s why we did the early morning exercises -- because we wanted to be proactive about healthy competing and healthy gaming, due to the outlook people have about kids playing 20 hours a day, where that’s all they care about, and they’re eating pizza and energy drinks and are delinquent students that are obese. We looked at pro gamers; they have to market themselves, they have to sponsor themselves, so we looked at what we can do with traditional academic elements. Therefore we have graphic design, video production, and web design and we’re trying to combine those elements with competitive gaming, academics, and sports to see where it goes.”

Moreno’s class has a relationship with DeVry University, which is closely involved in the program and has a frequent presence in the classroom. They offer the students an academic alternative to professional gaming, and recruit kids for their game design program. There are other classes around the country that offer similar curriculum to the FalconTech class at Palmdale High. These programs are significantly aided by visits from professional gamers such as Fatal1ty and Mystik. The energy these kids have for professional gaming and game design is tremendous, and visits from the pros only help to channel this energy. In the future we may even see gaming as a standard sport in high schools and colleges, leading into a career in the Championship Gaming Series. For now, Leonard Moreno and his students at Palmdale High School are helping to create a positive learning environment for today’s high-tech youth.