SHS esports club takes off this school year

It started when a young Kaiden Eddington received a Nintendo Wii gaming console for his birthday and became infatuated with a racing game called Mario Kart.

Now, as a Springtown High School junior, Eddington plays on the Pojo Esports Valorant Team, turning his passion for gaming into a competitive sport.

Valorant is a first-person shooter video game that allows players to compete on teams.

“They're very fun,” Eddington said about games like Valorant and Overwatch, another first-person shooter game. “You get a lot of adrenaline and joy, especially out of winning.”

Eddington found out about the SHS esports team from computer science teacher Chris Walker and via the Pojo Tech Club.

Senior Kian Shallenberger also heard about the esports club through Walker and knew he wanted to join. After taking a break from it, Shallenberger picked up playing Overwatch during the pandemic and watched games from the Overwatch League, a group of professional Overwatch 2 esports players.

“I just started having fun with it again and then started wanting to play it more competitively because I started watching Overwatch League,” Shallenberger said. “It was just interesting. There was so much more to the game than just playing it for fun.”

Walker, who also serves as the esports coach, said students wanted to start Pojo Esports for about three years before it officially became a club in the fall. The coach imagined the club as a group for students who lacked school involvement.

“I want it to get some of the kids that don't necessarily have something else they do, that aren't involved in other things, but give them something that they want to be involved in, build teamwork between the students and the different teams, show them sportsmanship and teamwork and camaraderie, as well as making sure they focus on keeping their grades up,” Walker said.

Walker, who got into gaming when he was in middle school, coaches the students through certain parts of the games, and teaches them to work together and communicate.

“It'd be like if you have a football team and you've got the linemen, and you’re telling them how to do their thing. You have the wide receivers, you tell them to do their thing, and then you're bringing them all together to work together to get to that one common goal,” he said.

Since Pojo Esports Club was just established this school year, Shallenberger was only able to participate for this year as he will be soon graduating from SHS. But he’s grateful for the time he did have in the club.

“I'm glad I'm at least doing it once instead of never,” Shallenberger said.

The senior and Overwatch 2 Team member has liked being part of something new at SHS.

“A lot of video games are not taken seriously, and it's cool that our school out of a lot of schools in Texas are actually wanting to try this,” he said.

Eddington described the existence of a “stigma against games that high schoolers play,” he said. Some games that club members play, like Valorant, are rated “T” for teenage players and older by the Entertainment Software Rating Board because of features like violence, blood and language.

Eddington dismissed the notion that violent video games lead to increased violence in players, particularly younger ones.

“Obviously, there are chances that that happens, but it's not because of video games,” he said. “It's not like video games encourage that stuff.”

Not all games played in the club include violence. For example, the club has a team for Rocket League, a game that asks what if soccer was played with cars and is rated “E” for everyone to play. Sophomore Joshua Martin is on that team and has enjoyed exploring the game.

“My favorite is the music, and then also like how thrilling the gameplay is,” Martin said.

 Sophomore Dakota Miller described the game as difficult to get used to. He said the most challenging aspect is scoring goals and trying not to get destroyed by other players.

Miller and Martin said they have learned that cooperation of the team is important for the gameplay of Rocket League.

“Supporting is one of the main roles in the game because if not for support, then it'll always be a close game,” Miller said.

Competing in esports

SHS Pojo Esports members in the Valorant, Overwatch 2 and Rocket League teams competed in the Texas Scholastic Esports Federation State Championship in April at the Esports Stadium in Arlington. Club members were also able to volunteer at the tournament and meet college recruiters as well as players from across the nation.

Prior to the state championship, Shallenberger said being in the right mindset is important for esports competitors. Before contests, team members will try to build each other up and remind themselves of how much they’ve practiced and prepared.

“I know that I'll mess up a lot if I'm not in the right mindset,” he said. “I find at least being really positive, very extroverted, kind of just ready to play has better results when I play instead of just me being really serious and upset. And it's really important because then people get down if they lose, and they'll feel like they can't win, and it'll just make it harder to communicate with your team.”

Walker has seen his players improve and take more initiative in practicing together. Part of playing well in competitions involves staying healthy, a lesson the coach has tried to impress on players.

“You got to have some rest; you got to have good food in you; you got to be able to last,” Walker said. “To play at those peak levels, it's very difficult to do and hold it there for an extended period of time. It's not just sitting down and playing games. Anybody can sit down and play games for long periods of time but playing at the peak level where you're actually trying the best of your performance. It's like asking an athlete to go out and try and play the best game of their life right after another after another after another.”

Eddington, who hopes to have a career as a game developer someday, encouraged members of the public who may not be familiar with esports to not be quick to assume things about it.

“They should know that esports is just kids or sometimes adults in other leagues doing what they love,” he said. “They shouldn't just judge it surface point without knowing anything about it.”

To be a sponsor for Pojo Esports, contact Walker by email at cwalker@springtownisd.net for more information.