eSports is a competitive online gaming club that is brand new to Elk Grove High School this school year. They play games such as “League of Legends,” “Starcraft 2” and “DotA 2.” The club meets Wednesdays after school in the engineering room so they can play on PCs instead of Macs.
Senior Brad Patterson created and organized eSports with help from fellow seniors Zaid Akel and Yanni Gaglos.
“My friends and I were talking and we liked this game called ‘Starcraft 2’, and we were asking around and noticed that ‘League of Legends’ was also a big game that people like to play,” Patterson said. “So we decided we should make it an ‘eSports’ club rather than just Starcraft, only that way we can include [a lot of] people.”
eSports was aided to fruition by its sponsor Peter Wang.
“I specifically talked to Mr. Wang because I heard that he liked to play Starcraft. Then we got the time and place and everything figured out and that’s how eSports came to be,” Patterson said.
Many students have shown interest in the club and the number of gamers are expected to grow.
“I think once we get kinks worked out it will grow a little bit,” Wang said. “Our initial interest was probably about 30 [kids], and now we’re at about 15.”
Wang is unaware of any other eSports clubs in the district, but there are clubs and competitions at the college level. The University of Illinois has an eSports club and there is also the Collegiete Starleague, which hosts intercollegiate “Starcraft 2” competitions. Though there are competitions out there, Elk Grove students only play against each other for fun.
“I like it because you get to play games with your friends,” freshman Joe Piewa said.
by Jack Kaup