Scarsdale Gamers Triumph in eSports Tournament

As most of you have never heard of eSports, I feel that I should preface this article with one statement; it isn't what you think. eSports isn't tapping your screen like in Flappy Bird, or swiping back and forth like in Candy Crush. It is far more complicated. eSports is the term used to describe multiplayer competitive video games. The term encompasses popular games like Call of Duty, League of Legends, Starcraft II, and Dota 2. These games are usually seen as mindless time wasters or simple forms of entertainment to help procrastinate from ever more important school work. People often fail to see the strategy, practice, and teamwork needed to succeed in all of these games. As a long-time gamer, and now a high school senior, I am often questioned as to why I bother gaming. What they don't realize is that I compete in my "sport" just like any other athlete.

High School Starleague (HSL) is a national eSports league that aims to give high schoolers a rewarding eSports experience, similar to traditional high school sports. Students represent their high schools, and face off against other high schoolers around the continent. HSL has leagues for various eSports including some big names that I mentioned before like League of Legends and Dota 2. Their philosophy is perfectly captured by their motto, "Study Hard, Play Hard." The league was founded in 2010, and since then has hosted a variety of events including online tournaments, inter-school scrimmages, and live charity events. These events have involved over 1,200 North American high schools and over 5500 students. HSL offers thousands of dollars in scholarship money for the winners of its leagues. This year alone the league has given out over $35,000 in scholarship money across four different eSports and thousands more in gaming gear and apparel.

Back in January, I enrolled in HSL's Dota 2 league with four friends. Dota 2, is an action real-time strategy game. Set in a mythical world of ogres, orcs, and dragons, two teams of five players start at opposite corners of a square map scattered with forests and rivers, and battle to take over the opponent's base. It sounds simple, but it gets more complicated. Each player pilots one of over 100 unique "heroes" each with their own set of unique abilities and traits. To make things even more complicated, players use gold accrued in game to purchase from a shop of over 100 different items. As an article in Bloomberg Business states, "The gameplay moves as fast as basketball, but the complexity of characters, weapons, and spells rivals Dungeons & Dragons." All of these aspects of the game are just a backdrop for the teamwork, communication, and strategy that are required to succeed.

Enrolling under the Scarsdale High School banner, the five of us were thrown into a league of over 100 eager high schools teams. The tournament consisted of a 10-week Swiss bracket played from February to April. This group stage was then followed by tiebreakers, single-elimination playoffs, and the grand finals. The tournament took a hiatus during May, so students could study for AP exams. After beating out Chapel Hill School of North Carolina in the semi-finals, we triumphed over Jersey's Cherry Hill High School 3-1 to win the tournament. As a team of 5, we claimed $2,200 in scholarship money along with hundreds more in gaming peripherals. The prize was merely the cherry on top of the sundae that was claiming the title of best high school team in the country.

My experience was equally enjoyable and stressful. As the captain, I created the strategies, and led my team in game. Like a football or basketball team, we would analyze the "game film" of our next opponent before each match to help prepare for the games. Official matches took place every Sunday night around eight. This was often an issue as a given match would encompass two or three games, each averaging around an hour each, and would take up a lot of time we should have spent doing schoolwork. The greatest difficulty we faced was organizing practice. Unlike most student athletes, we didn't have the luxury of coaches and trainers. Our only source of motivation was internal. There was no one pushing us to work harder, practice more, and help us keep our eye on the prize. Being friends and teammates was also an issue. Separating a conflict in a game from our friendship was difficult without a mediating third party. Every member of the team had to set aside their ego at one point in time to resolve a conflict.

In the long term, I hope to help raise the status of high school eSports to that of conventional sports like football and basketball. With our victory, we hope to pave the way for high school eSports in Scarsdale and in neighboring towns.

Omar Thenmalai
Co-President – Scarsdale eSports Club
http://www.scarsdaleesports.org
https://www.facebook.com/scarsdaleesports