Esports, where athletes compete virtually instead of on the field, has been on the rise in recent years, making their way into colleges and other areas where sports thrive. 

As more and more colleges and universities recognize esports as a legitimate form of competition, they are starting to offer scholarships to talented gamers. This is a significant change from a few years ago when esports were viewed as a hobby rather than a serious business.

This collegiate-level recognition could eventually extend to high schools, and some students are already considering the possibilities and opportunities that might come along with this recognition. 

The idea of ​​high school esports looks like a great way to get students involved at first, catering to that large gaming population. However, achieving it would require a significant investment in resources and infrastructure and would require students to engage in a game that involves mass amounts of screen time on top of their regular amount while only focusing on beating a single game, not several as many gamers are used to.

“Esports in high school would be a very fun entertaining team, but it would require a lot of resources and communication,” Liam Juergens (‘23) said. “I think a lot of students would like to be part of an esports team but the reason that is not at schools is that it requires a lot of commitment to one game.”

However, not everyone is convinced that there is a demand for it.

Some students think that there is interest among many students in joining an esports team, but the commitment required to be successful is a significant obstacle.

“I don’t think there are a lot of students who play video games or are good at those,” Mason Strach (‘24) said.

High schools focus primarily on furthering education and athletics and may not view esports as a valuable investment of their resources. Despite this, some students believe that esports in high school will happen in only a matter of time. 

“I think it will be a while because right now high school is mainly trying to promote education and athleticism over being on video games all day, but eventually they will start it since a lot of colleges are offering esports scholarships now,” Logan Gossiaux (‘23) said. 

Overall, while high school esports is still a topic of debate, it’s clear there is some interest among students. As the popularity of esports continues to grow, it will be interesting to see if high schools, including Chelsea High School, will begin to consider this new form of competition.