This July, community college educators from across the country gathered at the University of Washington for the Community College Master Teaching Institute (CCMTI) — a two-day deep dive into teaching, collaboration, and a shared exploration of this year’s theme: Global Sport: Culture, Society, and Economy. From circumpolar Indigenous games to Southeast Asian athletic artistry to the evolving economics of esports, the event spotlighted how sport reflects and reshapes global cultures, economies, and communities.

Held July 24-25, the program opened with welcoming remarks from Phillip Shekleton, the managing director of the Center for Global Studies, followed by an introduction to the theme by Danny Hoffman, director of the Jackson School. Early sessions laid the foundation for understanding sport not only as physical activity, but as a cultural and political force.

An opening session by Ron Krabill — a professor at UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences — introduced the Global Sport Lab, for which he is the director, a Jackson School initiative across the University that brings together scholars and communities exploring the global dimensions of sport through research and public engagement.

Challenging the norm: Arctic Winter Games

Nadine Fabbi presents “Arctic Sports, Inuit Games: Sport as Diplomacy in the Circumpolar World” on July 24, 2025. Photo by Madison Anne Morgan

The first lecture was given by Nadine Fabbi, director of the Canadian Studies Center and chair of the Arctic Studies minor. Her talk, “Arctic Sports, Inuit Games: Sport as Diplomacy in the Circumpolar World,” invited participants to look north — not at professional leagues or televised mega-events, but toward the community-based, culturally rooted practices of Indigenous sport. Specifically, she mentioned the Arctic Winter Games, a multi-sport competition for circumpolar athletes.

“The Arctic Winter Games, offered biennially, are critical to the community of global sport as they provide an alternative — and challenge — to sport that is highly commercialized, competitive, and quite often not sustainable,” Fabbi said. “The Arctic Winter Games are provided to build a circumpolar community, to develop skills necessary for a healthy life, and to promote northern cultures.”

New frontiers: the politics of eSports

Dr. Evan W. Rowe, adjunct professor at Green River Community College, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the Colorado School of Mines, brought a digital dimension to the conversation with a discussion on eSports spectatorship. Drawing from his doctoral research, Rowe addressed the mechanics of “watchability” and what differentiates successful spectator sports — both traditional and digital.

He also unpacked the power dynamics in the eSports industry, where video game publishers retain exclusive ownership and control.

“Unlike something like the NBA, eSport titles are owned by publishers and developers,” Rowe said, adding that “in the current eSports ecosystem, the game owner owns the games, which subordinates the eSport teams in a variety of ways, but mainly roots in the monetization mechanics for publishers being their top priority and using eSports as something more akin to marketing, branding, and advertising than as sports in and of themselves.”  

Bringing sport to life: Sepak Takraw

Jeremy Mirken (far right) plays Sepak Takraw with members of the U.S. Men’s National Takraw team July 24, 2025. Photo by Madison Anne Morgan

As part of this year’s focus on global sport, participants experienced a live demonstration of Sepak Takraw, a fast-paced sport from Southeast Asia that combines elements of volleyball, soccer, and gymnastics.

The demonstration was led by Jeremy Mirken, former player and head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Takraw team, who helped showcase the sport’s high level of athleticism and coordination.

“In the sport of Takraw, you see a bicycle kick in literally every point,” Mirken said. “I mean, there is nothing more dynamic than seeing a backflip kick and somebody land on their feet … the level of eye-foot coordination that is required is off the charts.”

Mirken was joined by Anthony and Ker Cha, current members of the U.S. National Takraw team; in 2024, Ker Cha opened the Blaine Takraw Academy, the first dedicated Takraw academy in the United States.

Mirken emphasized how sports like Sepak Takraw promote global learning and cross-cultural engagement, providing educators with unique ways to introduce international perspectives in the classroom.

“I believe that Sepak Takraw has a lot to offer the world,” Mirken said, adding that “it’s a sport that should be known by the world because it’s fun, dynamic, and it allows you to form a bond in a way that [you] probably haven’t ever experienced with players of other sports.” 

Strengthening a national teaching community

Throughout the two-day event, participants explored a wide range of topics highlighting the complex intersections of sport, history, politics, and global society. Additional talks included “Cricket and Colonialism” by Professor Anand Yang and “Will hosting the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup make your community happy?” by Jackson School Graduate Programs Adviser Jesús Hidalgo.

These conversations underscored the importance of teaching global sport not only through its most visible forms, but also by analyzing its broader historical and political dimensions.

In addition to formal presentations, participants took part in Community of Learners sessions and working groups designed to foster collaboration and exchange across disciplines and institutions; this included a session with Mike VanQuickenborne, a tenured philosophy instructor with the Department of Sociology at Everett Community College, designed to help attendees across disciplines incorporate sport into their teaching.

“That community college pedagogy is of academic interest, and putting people together in a room to share insights, ideas, and lesson plans has shared value,” Rowe said.

There are all sorts of social and educational classes to join in BitLife, from the arts to something more academic. Whatever you choose, your character will benefit from the extracurricular activities.

If you want your character to head into any of the STEM careers available, you’ll want to choose a science class, so here is how to find and join the Science Club in BitLife.

How to join the Science Club in BitLife

If you want your character to show off their study skills and learn more at school, they’ll have to join other kids in an extracurricular club. These are almost always readily available for all school children from middle school onwards.

From the moment your BitLife character enters middle school, you can choose any of the extra classes to join, from sports to the arts, and more. To find and join a science club, go to the School tab, tap your school name, and find Activities. Scroll through the choices until you find the Science Club, which has a DNA icon next to the club name.

Unfortunately, you are not guaranteed to find the Science Club in the list of school activities, as its appearance is completely random. If it doesn’t appear during any year of middle school, then try again for high school, and university. It won’t show for any of them if you are very unlucky.

If this is the case, you can try attending more than one university, going to graduate school, using a Time Machine to return to school and hope it appears, or starting a new life entirely until you see it appear in the list.

If going to a Science Club is part of a challenge you need to complete, then we recommend starting a new life. It is far easier to complete a challenge with multiple requirements if you start checking them off early.

For more BitLife challenge help, why not check how to complete the Bad Teacher Challenge or how to complete the Maleficent Magician Challenge?

This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.

At a Rocket League tournament in Birmingham, England, around 50 gamers are living what many would consider to be the dream: playing their favourite video game in front of thousands of fans with hundreds of thousands of dollars up for grabs.

But speak to the competitors, and they’ll tell you the reality can be a little different. Archie Pickthall plays for a team called GeeKay.

“It’s kind of weird on the brain because now I kind of have a money issue,” Pickthall said. “I see money, that’s a lot of money, like a thousand — but to me it doesn’t seem that much because my brain’s so fried from seeing the crazy amounts of money. Which I don’t think is a good thing to be honest, because then after Rocket League, you get kind of brought down to earth.”

“The job security is very poor,” he said. “You can get dropped anytime for nothing, and that’s it.”

Esports is a multibillion-dollar industry. But while traditional athletes often retire into coaching, managing, or being a pundit, what does an esports player do when they’ve hung up their controller?

Despite the fact it’s not a physical sport, there is a consensus that esports is a young person’s game, because as you get older, your reactions get slower. Slater Thomas is 22 — and is the fifth oldest player here. He’s already making plans for his post-competition career.

“I’ve always wanted to teach. I’ve always had, you know, in elementary and middle school and high school, I had a couple teachers that I love and I still think about all the time. And for me, that’s, I wanna make an impact,” he said.

If you compare this to something like tennis, this is like interviewing Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz and them saying they’d like to be a school teacher in five years’ time. So what does that say about esports and the way it’s structured?

“It’s true,” Thomas said. “I’ve lived through the stress of, I think, a full lifetime at this point. You know, I’m balding. Esports is stressful. You don’t know where your next check is going to come from.”

One of the major differences between esports and traditional sports is how young it is. The industry has only been around for a couple of decades, and this means there aren’t many examples you can draw on if you’re trying to carve out a lifelong career. Robbie Douek is the CEO of BLAST esports, which puts on this tournament.

“The global gaming market, depending on statistics that you follow, is worth between $200 to $300 billion,” he said. “There are some statistics that say that it’ll be $500 billion industry by 2030.”

“The esports industry inside of that is worth anywhere between $3 billion and $5 billion. So as a total market size, it’s not as big as one would hope, but it will grow and it will get bigger, and therefore there will be opportunity for many, many more going forward.”

“I think at this point, you know, are there jobs for all pros? Probably not, but there will be,” Douek added.

Phil Cooke lectures on the esports course at the University of Suffolk. He said that, unlike most traditional sports, esports doesn’t have a central governing body. This makes it harder to establish career pathways.

“There are organizations trying to do it already. A couple of years ago there was an international esports coach federation, so these organizations do pop up,” he said. “I think it has to be a wider industry step rather than any one team or person going into it.”

Back in the arena, French team Karmine Corp have just won the final and the $100,000. So, for this team at least, the wider worries about the industry can take a back seat for now.

Where audience eyeballs go, brands follow — and this year, brands across categories such as sports, food and even alcohol have widened their influencer marketing spend to include VTuber collaborations. 

Here’s everything marketers should know about the rise of VTubers in 2025.

What do VTubers do? 

VTuber stands for “virtual YouTuber.” They are much like any other creators on Twitch or YouTube, with many streaming themselves playing video games or making videos about their day-to-day lives. However, instead of revealing their real-life faces to the camera, VTubers use motion-capture or hand-tracking technology to map their movements and facial expressions to an animated avatar. That way, they can keep their identities private while still building distinct, marketable personas that fans connect with. 

Since the practice originated in Japan, many VTubers’ avatars are inspired by anime aesthetics. 

In addition to Ironmouse, who boasts over 2.3 million followers on Twitch, top Western VTubers include Gawr Gura — who has a following of over 4.7 million on YouTube — and Mori Calliope, whose YouTube subscriber count stands at 2.6 million.

One of the most prominent agencies that manages VTubers is Hololive Production, a subsidiary of the Japanese entertainment company Cover Corporation, with a roster of 88 VTubers that boasts a total following of over 80 million, according to figures shared by the company. In March, Cover Corporation launched its U.S. arm to capitalize on growing Western interest in VTubers. In February 2025, Hololive VTubers accounted for 51 percent of all VTuber video viewership on YouTube.

“We generally say our demographic is Gen Z,” said Cover Corporation CEO Motoaki Tanigo. “People that watch anime content are the same user base that also watch VTuber content — and as anime viewing in Gen Z has grown in the U.S., VTuber viewing has grown as well.”

The key numbers

• In Q1 2025, livestreamed VTuber content consumption reached an all-time high of nearly 523 million hours watched, according to a report by the livestreaming data platform Streams Charts. 
• In April, YouTube acknowledged the rise of VTubers by publishing an official report breaking down the growing category for members of the platform’s ecosystem. In 2024, a sample of 300 VTubers on YouTube earned over 15 billion views, per the report.
• The current size of the U.S. VTuber market is roughly 2.86 billion, according to a report by Mordor Intelligence, which predicted that the market would grow to 4.5 billion by 2030.
• As audience engagement in VTubers grows, so too has advertisers’ interest in the category. Tanigo told Digiday that Cover Corporation’s licensing and brand partnership revenue had grown by approximately 30 percent year-over-year in 2025. “In Japan, this has led to contracts with major clients, while in the U.S., we’ve secured partnerships with gaming companies,” he said.

How brands are buying in

There’s no shortage of brands that have dived into VTuber marketing in 2025. In recent months, Hololive has signed sponsorship deals with restaurants such as McDonald’s and Kura Sushi, as well as a licensing collaboration with the personal computer brand iBuyPower. In June, the Los Angeles Dodgers sponsored VTubers such as Usada Pekora to show up at an official VTuber game day event. 

“I often prioritize VTubers for a multitude of reasons: they have a very energetic and creative approach to their content that makes each campaign feel like a natural and organic fit,” said Tatiana Tacca, the founder of the anime and gaming brand consultancy Oni Vision. “Their audiences are also hyper passionate, resulting in great scale, engagement and click-throughs. And there is still a white space for brands, so there is a strong appreciation among the VTuber community for brands that recognize and elevate this community.”

VTuber activity differs across regional markets. In Japan, direct deals between brands and influencers are common, whereas brands in Taiwan are more likely to create their own VTuber to act as a spokesperson or appear in commercials, according to Donna Hsu, a deputy sales director for the Asian influencer marketing platform Kolr. This was the approach taken by the whiskey brand Ballantine’s, which unveiled its own VTuber spokesperson on August 9, transforming an image of its founder George Ballantine into a Fortnite-playing Twitch streamer. 

Although this type of in-house VTuber requires up-front technical costs that aren’t a factor for traditional creators, including the creation of the virtual avatar and motion-capture technology, it can help a brand run repeated campaigns without racking up too many influencer activation fees.

VTubers charge similar rates to other types of creators, with a range of fees depending on the size of the creator’s following and the objectives of the campaign. VTubers offer brands access to a potentially new and growing audience — but they are not inherently cheaper or more expensive than other creator categories.

“By design, VTubers are inherently digital. This virtual nature allows for flexibility in not only the characters, but the content as well,” said Sami Barnett, senior director of gaming for the agency TMA. “Brands can experiment with creative concepts without the high costs and logistics of influencer marketing.”

Why brands are buying in

While VTubers aren’t generally pulling in the same global numbers as top traditional influencers, they are drawing loyal, hard-to-reach audiences who are niche but deeply engaged. That opens up new collaboration opportunities for brands that traditional influencers can’t match, stressed Barnett. Video game publishers, for example, can easily integrate VTuber avatars directly into gameplay – as with Usada Pekora’s recently teased cameo in Death Stranding 2 earlier this month. 

VTubers aren’t a fit for every campaign, but they’ve carved out a sweet spot with younger, digital-native audiences who grew up in virtual worlds and treat animated avatars as authentic personalities, according to Barnett. 

“VTubers are a great avenue for digitally innovative campaigns — especially for brands targeting Gen Z, gaming, or anime communities,” she said. 

Naturally, while VTubers offer fresh ways to engage younger audiences, their niche appeal means they won’t be the right fit for every brand’s target demographic or campaign objective, added Barnett. 

“I think there is still a disconnect with virtual personalities for a ton of people, perceiving them as less relatable or ‘real’ than traditional influencers, which can definitely deter a brand from going down the VTuber path,” she said. 

VMPL

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 18: Gada Electronics, one of India’s most downloaded and talked-about mobile games, announced its upcoming participation in Gamescom 2025 in Cologne, Germany. The company will be meeting with potential partners, publishers, and investors to expand the game’s reach from its dominant position in the Indian market into major global gaming territories.

Since launch, Gada Electronics has consistently topped the charts on both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store in India, attracting millions of active players with its innovative gameplay, rich storytelling, and high replay value. Now, the company is setting its sights to on Tier 1 markets including North America, Europe, and East Asia.

“Our success in India proves that our game resonates with players through engaging mechanics and deep cultural authenticity. Gamescom is the perfect stage to introduce our vision to a global audience and to find partners who can help us scale to the next level,” said Harjeet Chhabra, CEO of Neela Mediatech (Creators of Gada Electronics).

Gada Electronics will be showcasing exclusive previews and discussing strategic collaboration opportunities with select partners during the event. The company is particularly interested in publishing alliances, localization experts, and marketing networks with a strong presence in premium gaming markets.

Download Gada Electronics now from

Google play store:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neelamediatech.gadaelectronics&hl=en_US

Apple Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gada-electronics-business-inc/id6474658309.

About Gada Electronics

Gada Electronics is a free-to-play idle arcade game developed by Neela Mediatech. The company is building an IP-driven ecosystem across gaming, animation, merchandise, and gamified learning. Its portfolio includes original digital offerings inspired by the cultural legacy of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, featuring top-charting mobile games, the widely popular TMKOC Rhymes YouTube channels, a vibrant merchandise line, and the gamified learning app TMKOC Playschool.

(ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)

(This content is sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received. The Tribune assumes no responsibility or liability for its accuracy, completeness, or content.)