Macomb native wins Call of Duty Collegiate National Championship
MACOMB, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - A mid-Michigan collegiate esports team has won back-to-back Call of Duty national championships.
After a victory in Columbus, Ohio, on June 10, 21-year-old Kyle Tobolski officially begins his "off-season" at his parent's house in Macomb.
His collegiate team at Northwood University is comprised of student-athletes from the likes of Texas, Wisconsin, and right here at home in Michigan.
"When I ran into these guys from Northwood, I met them, and we started clicking as friends and everything playing together, it was fantastic," says KTob, Tobolski's nickname online.
Tobolski says he hadn't played Call of Duty for three years before joining Northwood's team. He picked up the latest copy of Call of Duty at the time, not realizing he was a natural at it.
"I decided to join the team, and it was history from that," Tobolski said.
"When he came to Northwood, he was already naturally good at the game, and it was more so just finding the right teammates to pair with him," says Cody Elsen, the esports director and Tobolski's head coach at Northwood University.
Elsen says Tobolski has always been an underrated player for their team. He says Tobolski can go as far as he wants in gaming, although, as Tobolski pursues his master's degree in business analytics, the Detroit sports fan has other plans.
"Unlike most people in my position, I don't really have aspirations to go pro," Tobolski said. "I wanna go work for the Lions. That's my dream job. I would love to go get in their data analytics financial department somewhere in there."