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WNBA Champion and Superstar Aerial Powers Using Video Games and Twitch to Promote Inclusion – TEO – The Esports Observer


When it was revealed that Washington Mystics small forward and WNBA superstar Aerial “PowerzSurge” Powers would be represented by the gaming and esports division of Ford Models, some people may have been confused. Normally, announcements surrounding such talented basketball players as Powers revolve around who she is going to sign with to play. Well, she is playing several things–basketball and video games. Today, Powers tells The Esports Observer about her own personal journey and how she came to look at esports and video games as something that transcends just “playing a game.”

Professional sports has been beset by the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen entire leagues such as the WNBA, NBA, and MLB put into quarantine in order to even have a season. And while teams and players were starting to get restless, Powers found a way to cope–video games.

“Video games have been in my life forever,” Powers said. “Literally since the Nintendo 64 days, My entire family plays. In fact, video games are really the catalyst as to how me and my brother started getting along.”

Powers would go on to describe a household with brothers and sisters going through the typical growing pains associated with family life. In fact, it was the moment she and her brother started playing video games that her father took notice.

“Brothers and sisters can fight and be loud at times, which really drove my mom crazy, and one day my dad came home and noticed that the house was actually rather quiet with a rhythm to it,” Powers said. “My dad probably got a little nervous, not understanding what was going on, but when he came in and saw us playing together–nicely–the next thing I knew is that we had two new Xboxes and headsets for the entire family in the house.”

From there Powers saw the world grow smaller as she continued to play video games, meeting people from all over the world through games’ VOIP protocols. However, it wasn’t until many years later that she would learn that the world gets even smaller, all through a platform called Twitch.

“The year we won the WNBA Championship, I was hearing about all these people jumping on Twitch and playing video games where people would come and watch you play,” Powers recounted. “I got on Twitch and started to fall in love with it. I’ve met so many interesting people and have been able to use the platform to do some good things. It’s been great.”

From sports to videos and now Ford Models and Twitch, Powers has found herself in a very unique position that she feels confident in–using her platform to help girls, women, and people of color know that gaming and esports is for everyone, not just the elite. Additionally, she is also looking at her platform to raise awareness and show brands in the space that there is a market for the aforementioned people.

Credit: Aerial Powers

“Ford Models is helping me realize that I can actually help bring both endemic and non-endemic brands into the space to help people out,” she said. “Especially with how COVID has really drawn eyes to esports and gaming and they now see how important and how cool esports can actually be. COVID has seen a lot of companies struggle with products, but now they see that esports and gaming hasn’t stopped, it’s grown. It’s helped so many people and can help companies too.”

Powers has always been about inclusion and standing up for what’s right when it comes to all people, but especially women and people of color. She sees this as a huge opportunity to do some good.

“When I hear the word inclusion, I also hear the word ‘growth,’” Powers said. “We [women] make up over 40% of the gaming population, yet the NBA 2K League just saw its first woman drafted in the league. I know there are more women out there who can play and bang with the boys, I just know it. I want to use my platform to help showcase all those game-playing women and POC so that they can get some eyes on them and then see what happens.”

She has done exactly that.

This past weekend Powers started the Powerz Up All 2K Female Tournament, which saw women of all ages competing in the NBA 2K title. The event garnered more than 26K views after the first day, with no help or advertising, and has been a pillar in holding up esports for women.

Now, during the WNBA off-season, Powers will get to work, not only her conditioning to hit the hardwood, but on the sticks as well, as she looks to show people everywhere, these women gamers are for real.






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