Skyline has an Esports (electronic sports) team. This may be news to some people, and others may already know. This year Skyline has decided to participate in League of Legends, Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate, and Rocket League with more to come in the future. Some will have opinions on this topic, but what do the students participating in it think? This article will focus on the opinions that the coach of the team and some of the players have on the new sport in school.

To start, one may wonder how Esports came to be so popular, and that is because it helps fight against discrimination. In an article by Toptal: Esports: A Guide to Competitive Video Gaming, they illustrate, “Esports is also unique in that a player’s success is independent of how tall, strong, thin, or fast they are. Though there is certainly valuable insight linking good physical health to enhanced gamer performance, it is ultimately inconsequential whether the gamer stands at 5’2 or 6’8 tall. They can both excel at the highest levels of League of Legends, CS :GO, Dota 2, or any other game. Esports can further level the playing field for factors such as gender, culture, and location. This democratization of participation contributes to esports’ allure, and its generation of a globally engaged fan base.” With how widespread video gaming has become people would’ve seen this as a way to give reason to anyone that they too can play video games for a living. Whether that is for fun, or to win is up to the player, but either way practice is important. As everyone knows it is important to exercise for anything, even sitting in a chair.

Esports is a thing that has been around for not a long time, but some wish it were a thing sooner. Ashlee Golding, the science teacher at Skyline, and coach for the esports team said, “I thought it was great that there was going to be an esports team, because if there were one when I went to high school then I would have joined it.” Mrs. Golding has been playing video games since she was in first grade, maybe sooner. Mrs. Golding, and the esports team are trying to share, and spread the love for video games. Since Skyline now has an esports team, people who are newer to competitive games would have a better chance to hone, or make new skills.

People who want to try out on esports should start training right now. In an article by CNN: What is eSports? A look at an explosive billion-dollar industry, they illustrated, “eSports players, not unlike traditional athletes, can rake in big money: Tournaments can boast millions of dollars in prize money, which is typically split between the players on the winning teams. That means the world’s very tip-top players can easily earn seven figures in a year. Teams and event organizers also benefit from tickets sales for these competitions. That popular League of Legends tournament from 2017? It generated $5.5 million in ticket sales.” This can explain how it’s better to play solos, but expect it to be a lot harder to win. Also, people have a tendency to blame their teammates on something that was beyond that player’s control. If you play co-op, and a person tends to blame their teammates it is recommended that they work on that.

A few of the team members that go to Skyline’s esports team were asked questions about their thoughts on this and all of them liked it. When Mekhi Sadiq was questioned what game for the Skyline esports team he was best at he responded, “I would have to say, Rocket League.” This also happened to be his favorite video game. Makhi was also asked if he preferred co-op or solo, and he responded with, “Co-op, because you can have more fun.” So, even if someone plays competitively they can still find fun in the game they’re playing. When people learn new things they take part of it with them in life, and from reading this article one may remember certain things. These things could be that anyone can play esports professionally, and earn money through it still. Maybe, the fact that even though a person plays a game seriously doesn’t mean they can’t have fun when playing it by themselves, or with others. Maybe even that playing solos gets an individual more money, but is harder to win. Without a doubt people will read this article and go away with something on their mind.