If you don't want to play traditional winter sports, you can choose to play E-sports. E-sports is short for electronic sports, referring to competitive video gaming in tournaments and leagues. SKS Math teacher, Max Schuman is excited to begin the inaugural season for the Chargers. He feels that if this is something that motivates students and keeps them involved, it is worth it.
According to https://www.siue.edu/esports/about/history.shtm, the history of E-sports can be traced back to "1972, when home consoles first became common. In 1980, the first nationwide Space Invaders competition was held with 10,000 participants. A year later, gamers competed in the surprisingly cutthroat, inaugural Donkey Kong tournament." So gaming has been around for quite a while.
Seventh grader Ryan Crumb explained that students compete using the systems of Nintendo Switch, Xbox and Playstation. You play your opponent online and keep track of your scores. Teams play other schools from across the United States. Students follow the same rules as other sports, such as having good grades and being a good sport. Ryan says, "you cannot "rage" or get upset and cuss and have a fit, because after all, it is just a game." Ryan also has high hopes for their first match and feels like they could win if they try their best. He explained that he enjoys playing video games and is excited to take it to this level of competition.
The games that are played are Brawlhalla, Chess, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (4v4), Minecraft, Rocket League (2v2 and 3v3), Splatoon 3, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. The games cannot be rated R and cannot have guns or characters shooting each other.
To see which individual or team wins, each game has its own set of rules. For instance, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is the best out of 5. During our slated time (4 eastern), we enter into a queue system to play other individuals/teams. For the Winter Warmup season (Jan-Feb), students will join the queue system and get to play as many matches as they can in one hour. For the Spring Major season (Feb-May), students will join the queue system and play one match (best of 5) each week. Based on how well they do, they have an opportunity to qualify for the playoffs the last 2-3 weeks of the season.
Good luck Chargers and we are excited to see how this plays out!
Contributing editors Max Schuman and Ryan Crumb.