Esports makes debut at high school
ROCKET LEAGUE. (From L to R) Sophomore Isaac Woodward watched Senior Grayson Bodendieck, Sophomore Zartie Perry, and Sophomore Alexander Davis take on the Ruskin varsity Rocket League Team. This is the first varsity Rocket League team in Fort Osage high school history. “This is all very new to me and our school,” Davis said. “But I can tell this will prove to be a very fun experience for our school.”
October 18, 2022
The high school started the first ESports team in its history. An Esports or Electronic Sport team is a team that plays video games competitively. Activities Director Ryan Schartz named Mr. Brant Peterson as the head coach of the team. Coach Peterson hopes the team will help motivate students.
“It gives them a reason to want to come to school,” Coach Peterson said. “It gives them a reason to want to keep their grades up. It gives them a peer group to hang out with instead of playing by themselves at home.”
The Esports team received new gaming equipment so they can compete with high frames and quick refresh speed. Sophomore Daniel Miller enjoys the new gaming PCs. He believes they show how much work was put into starting the team.
“It’s like high quality stuff,” Miller said. “You can tell they really put effort into this, and it’s really nice.”
The team plays in the Missouri Scholastic Esports Federation League (MOSEF) for their competitions. The team will compete in “Overwatch,” “Overwatch 2” , “Super Smash Brothers Ultimate,” and “Rocket League. There will be other games next semester. Each event has a Varsity and Junior Varsity division. Sophomore Zartie Perry thinks the team will make school more fun.
“I love playing video games at home,” Perry said. “So being able to play them everyday after school sounded like it could be really fun”
The Esports team will stream the competitions on their Twitch account. Students interested in learning more about the team can visit their homepage
