Students at Prairie High School are getting ready to represent their school with the shared love of video games in a new league beginning this month.
The Falcons’ esports team is also looking for more student gamers to participate ahead of their upcoming spring league. The team competes on the Nintendo Switch and PC.
The gamers virtually clash against other high school teams in Washington with various games such as Rocket League, Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart and Valorant, coach Simeon Redberg said. A new league that Redberg will join will include Valorant and Super Smash Bros with the playoffs being held live at the Emerald Queen Casino near Tacoma.
“It’s going to be a pretty big event. So we’re hoping we can take a team up there and compete for state,” Redberg said.
The team continues to grow, but Redberg said they do not have enough for full varsity and junior varsity teams.
With the relative freshness of the program and not being a recognized Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) sport, Redberg has faced some challenges as a coach.
“It’s kind of cool to hopefully be a part of history because I don’t think that this is getting smaller. It’s only gonna get bigger,” Redberg said. “... We’re kind of creating our own path right now, which is exciting but also challenging. I’m trying to navigate that.”
For the players, the opportunity to represent the Falcons while playing video games they’ve grown up on means a lot.
“It’s really refreshing, honestly, like being in a circle with other people who share that interest …” sophomore Brasharee White said about being on an esports team.
White enjoys the game experience as it differs from playing at home, with higher stakes as he plays students from other schools online. He added it’s like a school’s reputation is on the line while playing esports, just like other high school sports.
White also encourages other students to join the Prairie esports team.
“If you’re good at games, you have to join because I was actually really discouraged. I didn’t join until a month as esports went on,” White said. “I just want to say, after the success, you should really just go for it.”
Redberg allows non-players to test their skills before signing up for the team with practice games or to just have fun after a school day.
