One of the many themes of the holiday season is that there is more benefit to giving than receiving.

McMurry University's mission statement has long held to that principle. An excellent example of this is the Esports program and its annual work with the Children's Miracle Network.

"Extra Life is a fund-raising program of CMN, specifically targeted to gamers," head coach Matt Tarpley said. "It started in Orange, Texas, in 2008 in response to a little girl with cancer that asked for a few board games to play in the hospital. After years of being an independent project in support of local CMN hospitals, it was officially adopted by CMN. 

According to Tarpley, gamers across the United States and Canada participate in a 24-hour GameDay to fundraise for this project every November.

"We've participated in the event in each of its four years of existence," he noted. "It is our biggest project of the year and many of the scholar-athletes favorite events. We had a full lab for the whole event this year, including a few staff members, as we streamed it for charity."

Tarpley helped bring the initiative's idea to McMurry's campus.

"This was my ninth year participating with Extra Life," he said. "I used to work at the local CMN hospital, Hendrick Children's, and my sister-in-law has been a charge nurse there for ages. Since Covid, we haven't been able to do any extra projects, but in our first year, we were able to visit Hendrick Children's and tour the facilities, including the NICU and the new kids' rehab center."

McMurry's team members have bought into the event from the get-go.

"The message sent is that when we all collaborate, no matter how big or small our communities, we can still create a big impact," Lilith Rivas, a senior, stated. "We raised much money together, and every donation helped, whether it be $3 from someone's brother or $50 from a professor whom someone informed about the live charity stream. We all helped, and that is beautiful.

"Being able to make a difference in someone's life doing something that I enjoy is truly a blessed experience," sophomore team member Logan Bond said. "Knowing that some kid out there is going to benefit from what we did, there's no better feeling than what that gives me."

Tarpley indicated that the program is already looking forward to the 2023 marathon.
 
 Planning usually starts the first of October, but our athletes always develop ideas before then," he said. "We only had about three weeks last fall due to some scheduling, so we have more time to produce a top-notch product next time. The students suggest 95% of the content. A lot of the yearly content schedule comes down to starting with content that requires the most mental bandwidth, such as art streams, Dungeons and Dragons, and board games, and placing those on the front half. We always include weekly program content groups with a two-hour block, such as SupportULT, our Mental Health, and Gaming content."