As of August 1st, Mr. David Palmer has resigned from the head coach position of the Canyon Ridge High School Esports team. Mr. Palmer will become the head coach of the new Esports team at the College of Southern Idaho. 

“My decision to resign from the head coach position was one that I put a lot of thought and effort into,” Palmer said. “However, I received an opportunity and accepted the head coaching job for Esports at CSI and I didn’t feel that I could coach both the collegiate and a high school team well.”

“I felt that it was in my best interest to take advantage of the opportunity at CSI and part of that job is helping support local high school teams, so I still get to be supportive of the Canyon Ridge team, just through a little different lens,” Palmer said.

Mr. Palmer formed the CRHS Esports team in 2022.

“You know, even though my job is to work with teams all across the state, I mean, this is my team that I helped grow and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see their success even if it’s in a little bit of a different role,” Palmer said.

There is no new head coach for the CRHS Esports team at the moment, but the position is being advertised on the Twin Falls School District website.

Mr. Palmer believes that Esports and gaming are beneficial to schools. “Games are beneficial to all of us to learn, whether it’s learning the concept or whether it’s using gamified study tools. They provide an opportunity for people to attach positive and negative rewards to what they’re doing,” Palmer said.

“Instead of just going through flashcards and having that intrinsic motivation, you get the bells and whistles of the game, and it makes it a little more fun, but you’re still making academic progress,” Palmer explained.