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A longtime competitive gamer, Chris “Fluffy” Aviles joined Full Sail Armada with an impressive resume in tournament organization.

“I started playing competitive Call of Duty when I was 11. And then after a few years of getting destroyed, not living up to my name, ‘Fluffyisgod,’ I realized that maybe I'm not the best at Call of Duty," he laughs. "I was approached by a guy who was like, ‘Hey, do you want to host a tournament tonight?’ So I hosted my first tournament at 13 or 14.”

When Chris enrolled in the Entertainment Business program after finishing high school, Armada was just getting started and didn’t yet offer competitive Call of Duty. Still, Chris offered the fledgling club his experience in TO’ing and gained a reputation for his organizational skills. “I just want everything to be efficient. I like having things planned out. I don't like going off the fly. I like being as prepared as I can,” he says.

Through the Entertainment Business program, Chris was able to generate a business mindset that would help guide him in his esports career.

“I see value in things that people don't really see that often,” he says. “I see audience retention, knowing when somebody has something small and how big it could be. I always notice stuff like that now and it was primarily because of the business program.”

As the esports presence at Full Sail continued to grow, Chris found himself not only a player and team captain on the inaugural Call of Duty team but an important fixture of live events hosted at the Full Sail University Orlando Health Fortress including Worlds Collide, Battle for the Boulevard, and more.

“Everything that I'd done to that point was a solo show,” says Chris. “And so all of that was on my own and seeing what an organized team was like, it was really cool being able to see how structured it was.”

Post-graduation, Chris has been able to take his experience from his time with Armada and apply it to his role as a League Support Specialist for youth esports organization XP League. Working with the team at XP League and supporting its 30-plus locations throughout the United States and Canada, Chris is able to apply the same planning, strategy, and business mindset that he did during his time in collegiate esports.

“I've been enjoying working with XP League,” says Chris. “I love the growth that we're having so far and the potential for a lot of the opportunities that we have here. I would love to bridge the gap between collegiate and high school esports.”