Gaming finds a home in high school

Communication, teamwork and hand-eye coordination are keys to success in Cedar Grove-Belgium High School’s latest extracurricular activity. Like athletics, students can get scouted by colleges and earn scholarships.

But it’s not a sport in the traditional  sense. Competitors participate while sitting in a chair in front of a screen.

Welcome to the Rockets’ esports teams.

The program began in spring with the help of Principal Josh Ketterhagen and district library media specialist Grace King, and it expanded in fall to students’ delight.

“I wanted to start a team for a long time,” senior Gavin Schmidt said, adding he has been playing video games with his friends for years.

English teacher Carol Schumacher, a gamer herself, is the team’s advisor.

“It’s very exciting. It’s nice to work with students in this capacity. I love teaching English but it’s always fun to have a different way to build a rapport with students,” she said.

Esports has an educational component beyond playing video games for fun, Schumacher said.

“I think it helps them with spatial awareness, strategy and teamwork. To be a strong contender in any of these games, they have to be able to see what’s happening and what might happen,” she said. “They have to have the ability to work with each other and communicate with each other.”

The school’s teams include 24 people playing four different online games. On Mondays, it was Fortnite (a survival combat game), Tuesdays was League of Legends (a strategy game in which teams try to destroy each other’s base), Wednesdays was Overwatch (a first-person shooter) and Thursdays was Rocket League (a three-on-three soccer game using cars), coincidentally the same name as the school’s nickname.

Schmidt is on CGBRockets, the school’s best three-member team. It was ranked No. 6 in the central region and as of Wednesday was still alive in the week-long playoffs in Rocket League. Schmidt, senior Calvin Lutzke and junior Jacob Larsen on Tuesday beat a team from Nebraska. CGBRockets previously defeated another team from the same high school in Nebraska and a team from Louisiana.

During games, players maneuver their cars to pass and shoot and manage a boost feature that makes cars go faster. They can bump opponents, causing their cars to go into the air, or demolish them by hitting them at supersonic speed, causing them to respawn near the team’s goal a few seconds later.

Playoffs are a best-of-seven format with each game lasting five minutes. Scores are typically 2-1 or 1-0, Schmidt said. During competitions, the team members sit next to each other at gaming computers in a room off of the library with the lights out.

“I think it’s communication,” Schmidt said when asked the key to winning. “As long as we’re talking, we’re playing good.”

Schmidt said he grew up playing Minecraft before trying other games and finding his favorite, Rocket League.

“I like that it takes skill. There’s not much luck involved,” he said.

Schmidt’s father introduced him to video game classics such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong that dominated the 1980s and supports his son’s endeavor into more advanced play.

“He likes that there’s a competition aspect instead of just playing for fun,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt, who plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to study film, said he has received some interest from colleges.

“I think we could definitely get some scholarships,” he said of his team.

Schumacher’s students compete in PlayVS, a national platform for competitive gaming. Wisconsin has a league but it doesn’t offer as many games, she said.

While the season was canceled last spring when schools were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year PlayVS will keep going during quarantine periods, Schumacher said.

That’s one advantage to the activity, she said. Students can play from home if they have a fast enough internet connection.

Some esports competitors also play a physical sport, such as basketball, and the coaches have worked together to manage both activities.

“The basketball program has been absolutely phenomenal,” Schumacher said.

One of her challenges is managing all the different teams playing different games, sometimes at the same time.

“There’s a lot of little groups of students I’m working with,” she said.

Games have a chat feature, but the only communication between competing teams is asking if their computers are ready to play or comments such as “nice game.”

“There’s no smack talk,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher does not call plays or coach students during competitions.

“The students are very autonomous. They have to make those decisions,” she said.

In her free time, Schumacher and her husband enjoy couch co-op or single-player role-playing games. Their favorites are the Fallout series of games, Borderlands 3 or Left 4 Dead — “not what people think of a teacher playing,” she said.