Come every Spring, outdoor sports begin to once again flourish but some sports don’t need great weather and sunshine to blossom. A sport that has bloomed this spring whilst being indoors is the high school’s Esports team. The Esports team has been an under-the-radar sport at the high school being ranked in the top 20 in the state in addition to being ranked 18th in the nation.
The team officially started and participated in competitions last year when head coach Mark Lago began to run practices after school in the high school’s computer lab. School practices were held after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the team began to flourish and dominate. They made it to states in multiple games last year such as Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart.
The team participates in Mario Kart, Splatoon, Overwatch, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros. Their competitions consist of competing as a team together in these various games, some players come to the fish bowl at the high school to play while others can play from home. Though Super Smash Bros is a one-on-one game it’s considered a team game because the point system is based on how many matches the team wins. This means that the Super Smash Bros team has to come into the school to compete. The other games such as Rocket League, Splatoon, and Overwatch can be played from home.
This year, the Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros teams made it to the state semifinals. States were held at Oakland University in Rochester Michigan. Though both teams did not win a state championship in either game, they did have multiple players in All-State; junior Taiven Willemse, sophomore Samuel Schmidt, senior Dominic Blaskis, and junior Kyle Duncan.
Head coach Mark Lago is very proud of how far the program and team have come. He sees a bright future with the team as it continues to grow.
“The [players] that have stuck with us since last year did very well, and we have seen an increase in numbers going from 24 players to 33 players,” Lago said.
Lago hopes to keep growing the program, even now with their small number of players, they are still nationally and state-wide ranked and compete for the state championship each year.
“We are going to do a fall season which people can do from home, they just need to be online during their scheduled times,” Lago said. “It’s good for new players to test the water and for old players to test out new strategies.”
Many people want to join the Esports team but have conflicting endeavors, veteran Mario Kart player sophomore Samuel Schmidt expresses how the sport is flexible with schedules.
“Practices are held in the fishbowl at the high school after school, players can also join the practices from their homes as well,” Schmidt said. “The practice schedule is flexible and if you miss a practice you can always just play the game with teammates when you’re available after the scheduled practice time.”
The team is pleased with where they are. After just two years of being assembled, the team has made huge strides in improvement and gameplay. With their success, the high school has rewarded them with more equipment to extend their success.
“I am so proud of the Esports team and our accomplishments, we want to thank the school for giving us some gaming computers,” Schmidt said.
The improvements of the team have been seen and felt by junior Super Smash Bros player Taiven Willemse. He feels the comradery of the team and enjoys the aspect of talking with other players about a game he is as enthusiastic about.
“It is fun being with people that share the same interests as me, and being able to compete at a state level against other players who love the same game as me,” Willemse said.
