Waukee Northwest eSports Season

This year’s 2024 esports season has come to a close with both the Super Smash Bros, and the Rainbow 6 Siege team (R6) bringing home the state runner-up trophy to the Northwest Wolves medal case.

Esports is a group of anyone who decides to join the team. In that team, they play many different games. The different kinds of games they play are a wide majority of the games teens today like to play. This is the second year that this program has been offered to Northwest students. The esports team comes together every Thursday to practice for their next competition. 

This year’s team has many returners from last year and many new additions. The team’s players comprised of Wyatt Adams, Daouda Kaba, Shaurya Deb, Nick Borski, Isaac Pargas, Saurav Deb and Liam Welsh. Better known as Super Smash Bros. And the R6 team with Jackson McQuistan, Cale Sorge, Hunter Garrett, Luke Wilson, Ben Severson, Ethan Nguyen and Joe Harlan. 

The esports team is not for any one person, and anyone can join and add to the success of the Northwest esports team, which is just looking for a fun time and getting to know each other. 

Senior, Jackson McQuistan added, “I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy the games being played currently. It’s always fun to put a team together, make friends and just play competitively once in a while. Most people who are there think alike, so it’s nice to find like-minded individuals.”

Esports is one thing that is not as popular as most things in the northwest community, but as added before, is a great thing to do for some social and competitive interaction, for anyone who finds the video game world entertaining. 

Junior, Ben Severson said, “Once you get past the stigma of esports and the room’s smell, it’s really fun and the coach is super chill.”

Now it would not be truthful to only talk about all the amazing times, because sometimes it was hard for some people to see whether that was a high score they were trying to be, or just a difficult game in general.

Sophomore, Wyatt Adams, claimed “[At state] it was awful because it was 13 hours long and I was tired of it after hour 10 and couldn’t stand.” 

McQuistan expressed “[This] season had its ups and downs for sure. We ended up making state and going to state but lost in the first round. The experience of getting there was a lot of fun though, and the people I played with were really enjoyable to play with every Thursday. Being on a team and just hanging out helped everyone enjoy the season.” This is McQuistan’s first year playing for the esports team and he had a great time, which was a common thing found when talking to the esports team. 

Overall, even though there was no state title brought back to Northwest High School, it was a truly enjoyable time for everyone involved, and can not wait for their next season to start up again.