Ali Schulz

Focusing on the game, seniors James Taylor, Jeremiah Taylor and freshman Elijah Smith play “Valorant” during practice Feb. 1. Practices involved playing two different matches of “Valorant” in preparation for competitions. “One of my hobbies is playing video games,” Smith said. “So it’s fun to do it at school and meet new people.”

The varsity eSports team completed their first season as a “Valorant” team, and JV played “League of Legends.”

Varsity ended the season with a 4-6 record, and JV was undefeated.

“We were pretty good for our first runout,” assistant coach Janet Sobbe said. “It was nice to see how advanced people were and where we should be.”

Players competed for their designated game, and when needed would switch games to help out the other team. Headsets helped the players communicate with one another and were used to help work out a plan.

“We would compete as a team,” senior James Taylor said. “We prepared by talking out who we were going to play for a certain map, and played together to work on communication.”

Members played two matches during practices on Monday and Wednesdays and would compete against other schools on Thursdays.

“Matches are a best out of three type thing,” varsity freshman Elijah Smith said. “If we win one, and they win one, we go to the third match, but if they win two, they’d win, and vice versa.”

It was eSports’ first season as an emerging sport working toward becoming a MSHSAA sport.

“We have a Missouri league,” Sobbe said. “They are really working on the rules and hammering out how much control MSHSAA has over things.”