I took the pleasure of personally interviewing Santiago High Schools Esports supervisor, Mr. John Tyler regarding questions about the club and how their first official season went. If you didn’t already know, Esports is short for electronic sports, in which you compete playing videogames in a team or alone against others. You build bonds and strengthen relationships all while playing video games! How awesome is that?

“What games do you play here”

“This season we played Rocket League, League of Legend, Mario Kart 8, and Super Smash Bros … The games are selected based on student voting, which means that the games I just listed were more popular than others on the list like Splatton, Madden NFL, NBA 2K, FIFA, and Smite too … Sports games were on the bottom of the list because if a sports game were chosen, that would become considered an individual game that wouldn’t include team play and additionally because sports games are primarily on consoles, that meant having to learn and adjust to a whole different set of controls which is difficult because we play more computer-based games.”

“How did the season go”

“Our Rocket League team ended up 3rd in the state and lost in the semi-finals during the playoffs, Mario Kart ranked 2nd and lost in the quarter-finals of the playoffs, League of Legends placed 38th in the state, and Smash Bros ended up 19th … Overall we had an impressive start and it went superb, especially regarding this was our first ever season together.”

“What does this club mean to you”

“It means a lot to me as I’m able to bring people who share common interests together witnessing firsthand the building of new friendships and relationships with each other … As the term sports has expanded greatly over the years that it now includes video games being recognized as apart of CIF and being shown on ESPN has been a blessing that makes me immensely proud for being the supervisor of this club.”

“What are the benefits of being in this club”

“You are given the opportunity to encounter people with similar interests and more importantly, you learn responsibilities as you’re tasked with the responsibility of attending practices and games on time to be there for your team, you build comradery just like your other typical sports … Esports also heavily correlates with computer science and game design so you kill two birds with one stone by being here.”

“Are you any good at video games”

“Far beyond it, growing up I did play games but only the traditional sports games like Madden NFL, MLB, and NBA 2K, I never really expanded into the other world and genre of games … However, one of the coaches Mrs. Gonzales who is also a tremendously big supporter of the club can easily compete with the people in this club, especially in League of Legends … She wanted to become a coach just so she can beat everyone.”

I thank Mr.  Tyler for sparing me his time answering my questions about the Esports club here in Santiago with hopes of potentially piquing the interest of those who read this article in order to be that final decision maker that pushes them into joining the club for the next season.