Think esports isn’t a real sport? Think again. The National Federation of State High School Associations, the national organization for high school sports, began a long-term partnership with the leading pre-collegiate esports company PlayVS to promote esports as an official high-school sport in 2018. 

Esports, just like real sports, require time, dedication, and skill. In one-on-one esports titles, students must develop quick reaction speeds and strong decision-making abilities through practice. In multiplayer esports titles, students must work together with their teammates to strategize for victory. But students’ effort isn’t wasted just because their hard work is in a game. As University School of Milwaukee’s esports coach Dr. Laurie Schleicher writes, “Esports share many of the same benefits of traditional athletics, like sportsmanship, leadership, communication, and teamwork.” 

In December 2021, Mr. Evans, an employee in the Ipswich Public Schools IT department, registered Ipswich High School into the PlayVS program – marking the beginning of IHS Tigers Esports. Mr. Evans’s goal was to “give all students an outlet to showcase their gaming skill.” He himself didn’t have the opportunity to participate in an esports program when he was in high school, but he met some of his closest friends through a student-run esports team in college. Now, Mr. Evans hopes that the IHS esports program can help more students to “establish new friendships through gaming.” 

Currently, IHS Esports runs in the spring and holds practices in the IMS/IHS Library after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 2:30 to 5:30. However, students can attend practice from home or practice on their own schedules since esports can be played online. PlayVS has a wide variety of games that they offer and adds more titles yearly; the available titles this year are:

The League of Legends team has been the longest-running, with its five senior members having been part of the team since the very beginning of the IHS Esports program. Many of them had never played League of Legends before joining as freshmen, but they were able to climb as a team to become the MSAA Semifinalists for League of Legends in Spring 2023. Now that the team is in a larger division (all schools in the Eastern US region, rather than just Massachusetts), the team hasn’t seen as much success but still continues to enjoy the game together. With all five senior League of Legends players graduating this year, the team will need new players to step up next season. 

Though he was unable to participate in esports this year due to other commitments, senior Reilly Miner has made three years of fond memories while in the program, reminiscing that “it’s been a fun opportunity to participate in alongside [his] friends.” He joined the esports team in freshman year, excited about the prospect of competing with other schools in the video games he had grown up enjoying with his brothers. 

Esports is still a relatively new club at Ipswich High School, and Mr. Evans is looking for more interested players to join. For those who are unsure, Mr. Evans recommends to “stop by on one of our game days and see it in action.” Who knows? You and your friends might be the next to represent IHS as esports champions!