Mistaken identity led to school's esports course

Emily Coulson says she wants to inspire people to want to get into the esports industry

A case of mistaken identity on social media has led to a Leicestershire school setting up an arena for esports and offering a qualification in the subject.

Emily Coulson, who works at Countesthorpe Academy, is known online by the handle Perkz and was introduced to the competitive gaming world when she was mistaken for professional player Luka Perković, whose handle was C9Perkz.

This chance encounter on X dates back to 2021, but fast forward to the present and the school now offers an esports BTEC and has its own purpose-built 26-seat arena.

Ms Coulson said she was unfamiliar with the world of esports but was drawn in after being mistaken for the professional gamer.

"I suddenly got 100 followers in an hour," Ms Coulson said.

"I said, oh, I'm just going to post pictures about education and guinea pigs. Who knew that the esports world loves a guinea pig? So I ended up with about 2,000 followers from that night, and I was watching the game and retweeting things.

"I understood that games are really exciting to play, but I didn't quite realise the industry that surrounds that."

'I created this'

Ms Coulson works as a lead practitioner across the multi-academy trust that runs the school, but is also a content creator for the esports team Cloud 9.

She said since being mistaken for the other Perkz, she has had "lots of different experiences", including a trip to New York to see Cloud 9 compete.

"I'm so proud that I just didn't let that go and that I really went with it," Ms Coulson added.

"I'm most proud of the fact that I then took that idea and those dreams that I had of giving the students an opportunity to take part in esports, and I created this."

Ms Coulson says the person who originally "mistweeted" her often gets in touch to say they are proud and to register their disbelief at what has since followed.

Ms Coulson looked more into the gaming industry after the encounter and said it has "such a diverse level of roles".

She said although this had happened to her, she thought "how can I benefit the students in my community?".

"And then I just had this dream of building an esports arena where students could not only interact and play games and have fun, but actually have an educational quality," she added.

"So I talked to the British E-Sports Association, who run the BTEC for [exam board] Pearson, and I really liked the fact that you could do lots of different skills in it.

"I liked the fact there was event hosting, there was casting, there was all the logistics of building a brand, as well as the programming of games, and there was such a diverse skillset."

Ms Coulson said she felt "very lucky" the trust that runs the school saw value in the esports qualification.