Rising Ethletes- Jenks Esports

By: Ruairi Cooley

At first glance, it may be easy to dismiss esports as just another form of gaming. However, esports is much more complex and requires lightning-fast reflexes, strategic thinking, and sharp focus. Students worldwide are even earning thousands of dollars in scholarships to compete in Esports on a collegiate level. Esports is what's called a “mind sport,” which is similar to ‘traditional’ sports such as basketball, football, and baseball, except with esports everything is played virtually. It requires a team of people who are willing to work together to work towards a common goal: winning the game. The students that make up the Esports team at Jenks, practice diligently to be able to compete against very skilled players who know the ins and outs of each game. Instead of playing these video games for fun, these students have stepped up to play them at a highly competitive level. 

This semester, the Jenks Esports team has competed in several tournaments against other schools in the state, including teams from Union, Wagoner, Bixby, and Edmond Memorial. For Esports, there are no divisions so the Jenks team goes up against all sizes of schools in Oklahoma. 

Although it's their first official season competing, the teams are doing relatively well. The League of Legends team, consisting of 5 members, is currently undefeated at 6-0 and is gearing up for state playoffs. The Overwatch team is making its way up through the season with a 2-4 record. 

What makes the Esports team at Jenks so successful? 

“Teamwork is the most important part of playing any game in esports,” says Kyle Foster, a coach for the program. 

To be successful in playing each game, the team must rely on each other to do their job to the best of their ability. Each person must take part in the coordinating and planning of the game. Communication is vital when it comes to creating new plans. 

“At first, our teams had a hard time coming together,” says Foster. “Finally we had to learn how to strategize, communicate, and work together if we wanted to achieve our goals.” 

For people who aren’t familiar with Esports, it might be hard to understand how a typical game is set up and played. OESL, Oklahoma Esports Team is run by Union High School and oversees competitions for the whole state. They decide what games are played each season. There is also OSSAA, which holds competitions at the national level. Games are played after school and they are played virtually against other schools. For League of Legends, each student will sit down at one of the 5 computers and get logged into the same game. When the other team joins the same game/lobby, the 2 teams go head to head into the competition. The game requires two teams that battle across a map with five attempts to destroy each other’s base. 

Playing a game like League of Legends is kind of like playing all aspects of football at the same time. Your offense and defense are both doing their own things at the exact same time. This is challenging especially because the team members are not coached throughout the game, and must make quick decisions on their own. One small mistake and the whole game could be in jeopardy. It requires communication; every team member must play at their highest level to win the game.

“To an outsider watching the game, it might look simple, but once you really pay attention to what's going on, it's much more complex than most people think,” says Foster. 

The game's players must be able to think quickly and change plans without notice. There are small minute details that happen in milliseconds that they have to adapt to throughout the game. 

“While most traditional sports have their muscles, we have our minds,” says Foster. 

The Esports team practices morning and evening to make sure they are prepared for a game. During practice, they watch other skilled players and try to mimic what they do in their own games, much like football does when they watch film. A lot of communication is required to plan out different scenarios and find a way to respond to them. 

Tryouts for the Esports team at Jenks for the next school year are at the end of the semester. The games they play include League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Rocket League, Valerent, and Super Smash Brothers. Visit the Jenks Esports team on Instagram @jenksesports team to keep up with them throughout the rest of the season.