In years past, video games have been seen as either a waste of time or a fun way to destress after a long day depending on the individual. However, they are now both a viable career and a great way to bring children together in a competitive way.
For example, Two Rivers High School introduced their eSports team last year, and in that time, Coach Austin Schroeger said he has seen his players grow in leaps and bounds as a team.
“The growth of the students is tremendous,” he told SeehaferNews.com. “It’s really nice to see the student-athletes, the basketball players, and the football players, asking the non-athletic kids for help in this realm.”
Coach Schroeger’s team competes in three different games. In the first semester, they played Super Smash Brothers and Overwatch. The first of those is a fighting game with famous characters from a variety of video game franchises, while the latter is a first-person shooter game.
We asked Coach Schroeger about why a shooting game would be allowed as a part of a school organization, and he explained, “The thing about Overwatch is, it’s not a realistic shooting game. There is not a violent factor to it. When you ‘die’ you respawn immediately, there’s no blood there’s no graphic graphics if you will.” Plus the Wisconsin High School Esports Association, which the team is involved with, had approved it prior.
The other game they compete in is called Rocket League, which Schroeger describes as “Three vs three soccer on steroids. For lack of a better example, it’s remote control cars, and a humungous soccer ball on a humungous field.”
The team is actually quite good at that game, as in their first year in existence, they were able to advance to state, and come in second. Schroeger said that is the most fun one to watch because the announcers do a phenomenal job explaining what is happening, and how each team is strategizing against the other.
The team is not just a boys club, however, as they have two female players, and even have a female coach, Emily Garber.
“I ended up landing a job here over the summer, and right after my interview we were walking around the school and I saw the poster for Overwatch,” Garber recalled. “I asked Austin ‘What do you have this Overwatch poster hanging here for?’ Because I have a lot of time in Overwatch.” He gave her the lowdown on the program and named her his assistant coach.
They may be only in their second year of existence, but they already have a success story. Colin Dombrowski, a senior at the High School, has received a scholarship to join the Lakeland College eSports team under head coach Ahman Green.
You can watch previous Two Rivers matches by going to Twitch.tv/TRHSeSports