Morton West has produced a lot of clubs throughout the years, one of them being Esports. Whether you’re a boy or a girl, it doesn’t matter because Esports is a club where everyone is welcome. The Esports Club is a place where students can go to decompress after school, and compete against people that they may or may have not seen before in video games. These games are not only just for friendly matchups but there are tournaments that create new memories, and build new bonds, but most importantly, it’s a place where students can have fun every Thursday. While Esports is considered a video game club, other students attend Esports for the sole purpose of socializing with other people treating Esports as the place to hang out with their friends. Esports Club presents an opportunity for students to show others what they’re made of, but in gaming, only one student deserves to be called the best.
Last year, only a few people were attending the club because students weren’t aware of the existence of the Esports Club. This year, there are many newcomers and it’s mainly because the reputation of Esports Club keeps growing and growing. Mr. Stephen Swon, Sponsor of Esports Club and Guidance counselor said, “I think just as the word gets around, and as the popularity increases, the more students want to try out for Esports club, and I think there’s a lot of gamers out there. This is a club that they find to be a good fit.” The students who end up staying until 4:30 p.m., do end up having loads of laughs and loads of fun.
The meetings were in F100 and on one side of the room there are a lot of people who play Super Smash Bros. On the other side of F100, there are a few people who just play random games. For those of you who don’t know what Super Smash Bros is, well, it’s intensity personified. The game consists of players starting off with 3 stocks (tournament rules) and the game also consists of one player choosing the stage he/she wants to fight their opponent(s) in. The goal of the game is to be the first player to get their opponent(s) stocks down to zero and win the match, this is called ‘the free for all’ option, as stocks in Super Smash Bros represent lives.
Furthermore, there is a team battle option in Super Smash Bros where players can not only join forces against the opposing team and fight to the finish, but players can pick a team color for their teammates that color be red, blue, green, or yellow. Super Smash Bros is such a popular game among students, that tournaments were held for students.
Super Smash Bros will once again be the game for this year’s tournament which will be held in the second semester. The tournament will not be taking place at Morton West as in years past, instead, this year, the tournament will be taking place at Morton East. Gabriel Flores-Martinez, Senior at Morton West said, “With more new faces and old faces who dominated the brackets last year, we’ll be able to see the talents of all the new people have this year and the ones from last year with how they’ve improved on their skills.” The one thing that will change is the competition, and the one thing that’ll remain the same is the feeling of joy and exhilaration the students at Esports feel. Before the tournament begins, students continue to enhance their skills in Super Smash Bros by doing practice matches as a way to prepare.
Esports Club was created in 2020, and three years later, it’s still going strong. Every exciting thing that has ever happened in the Esports Club is all thanks to IHSA (Illinois High School Association) who acknowledged the club as part of their organization in 2019.
According to IHSA’s website, IHSA’s plans for the State tournament are as; The Sectional tournament is scheduled for April 20, 2023-24, and the State final Tournament, is scheduled for April 27, 2023-24.
As the years continue, IHSA will make plans for this generation and the generations that are yet to come for the Esports Club. Mr. Swon said, “I think this year, maybe including more games to have tournaments with and then again in the future too. Also, to keep adding more and more games so that way there can be more competitions.” Esports is a club that will continue to thrive and will show no signs of ending any time soon.
