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Millcreek Journal

Esports teams in Holladay high schools compete for first time in 2021

Feb 02, 2022 12:34PM ● By Heather Lawrence

Esport competitions are all over the world now, including in Granite School District. (Wikimedia)

By Heather Lawrence | [email protected]

On a Wednesday in December, five Cottonwood High students and teacher Dwight Epperson hold a club meeting during lunch. They talk about upcoming events and tournaments. During the meeting, three more students who want to join turn in applications. 

Ellis Ames, a junior and club officer reminds them what’s at stake for the next tournament. “We’re competing against [students in] the entire country as well as others in our district,” Ellis said. 

The big prize is $500 and a PC. And all they have to do to win is play video games. 

The students are officers in one of Cottonwood’s newest district-sponsored clubs: Esports. 

“Esport (video game) competitions have sprung up in high schools and middle schools throughout Utah. In line with this growing popularity, GSD has developed an Esports organization to help connect students to competitions,” wrote Granite District in a press release in November. 

The five officers at the meeting today are Ethan Barnett, Miguel Garcia, Tyler Needham, Ellis Ames and Casen Johnson. Their team is 31 students and growing. In December alone they had three tournaments. 

The team has a great ally in their advisor. Epperson had a 30-year career as an attorney, and then started a second career teaching. He’s been at Cottonwood for three years, and his son teaches math at Granger High School. 

“It really is fun. I don’t recommend it for retirement—they’re keeping me busy. But it keeps things simpler than law,” Epperson said.  

He takes a minute to break down some of the team stats. “Apex Legends has eight players, but Halo only has four,” Epperson said as he hands out printed copies of the roster. He’s happy to give the kids a place to be and somewhere to belong. 

The students like Epperson. With several tournaments a month, they rely on him to keep up the paperwork. All the competitions are done through Generation Esports. 

“Mr. Epperson is pretty great. He does a lot of the technical things: he signs people up, and there are weird and confusing paperwork things that can be difficult. There are hoops to jump through and he helps us all with that,” Ellis said. 

The world of video games is occupied mostly by males. But Cottonwood’s club wants female players to feel comfortable joining. There are three female students in the club and another comes in to apply during the meeting. 

“It’s about 10% females on the team, which is about how it plays out in other teams,” Casen said. 

They play as a team, not against each other. But they are playing against other district-sponsored teams at Granite District high schools. The nearest rival is Skyline High. 

Cottonwood and Skyline both competed in the 2021 Ken Garff Esports Fall Festival. It was a four-hour competition with students from 20 Utah school districts, including Granite. The games were Super Smash Brothers Ultimate and Rocket League. 

Team members are designated to certain games. “We have a lot of members, but they are spread across different games,” Ellis said. 

“We could play each other more and find out our strengths and weaknesses so we could compete individually instead of as a team, but we haven’t really done that yet. It’s hard to say, ‘You have to show up to practice today,’ and get people here to practice. This isn’t a football team, it’s a club,” Casen said. 

At this meeting, just before Christmas, they’re talking about the Triton Cup, where the prize is $500 and a gaming PC for the winner. The team thinks that after Christmas they might get more members as students get gaming consoles or equipment as gifts. 

The games for this tournament are Halo, Apex Legends and Super Smash Brothers. Parents need to sign a permission slip because some of the games are violent and rated Mature. 

Casen understands why some parents might object. “Halo is literally a war simulator,” he said.  

“It’s a space war between aliens!” Ethan interjects, defending the fictional aspect of the game. 

At this point you might be wondering if it’s legitimate for a high school to encourage their students to play more video games. Epperson cites the cover story in the September 2021 issue of Utah Business Magazine in support of Esports. 

“This article lists some of the benefits of having a high school team. I think when you have an environment like we’ve had here [with the pandemic] where we just seem to not have a lot of control over what’s going on around you, these games give you a sense of control. And for these students that feels really good,” Epperson said. 

Tournaments are played from home but they can all see and communicate with each other. They are live-streamed and spectators can watch—if they’re up for four to six hours of watching other people play video games. And if they progress far enough in a tournament, they get to play together in a facility, face to face with their opponents and spectators in a crowd. 

Winning looks a little different depending on the game. “I’ve researched the rules for Halo in the tournament, and it’s the best of three. You’re playing a version called Slayer on two teams of four. You could tie, but it’s very uncommon,” Tyler said. 

There is a social aspect to the club. All the officers say they’ve made friends here. Some are involved in other activities like football or wrestling. Like all clubs, students need to maintain a 2.0 GPA to participate.  

There are people who make a career in Esports, and in Utah it’s not out of the realm of reality. Competitors from Utah have found success at video game competitions. 

One of the first was Jeff Hansen. In 1990, a then 10-year-old Hansen from Murray played in the Power Fest competition in Salt Lake City sponsored by Nintendo. Hansen went on to win at several levels and earn prizes and trips until 1993. His story was profiled in episode two of the Netflix series “High Score.”

More recently, in February 2020, a professional Esports team from Layton won $1,000,000 at a competition in Canada. 

The article in Utah Business Magazine focused on the Utah Jazz Esports team. Its six players live together in an apartment in Salt Lake City and play up to 10 hours a day. The Jazz gaming website says team members are “guaranteed, competitive salary and benefits as well as housing.” 

There are other benefits. Learning about video games can influence teens to seek out STEM careers and learn more about coding. Playing as a team means working together. The prize gives them a goal to work toward. Interactions with Epperson give them a supportive role model. And maybe the best part is that playing video games—which is fun—can count as a school activity. 

Casen said he feels fine telling his parents to give him some time to practice his video game skills. “I just say, ‘I’m gonna go do a school thing, and I need you to not talk to me for a while.’”