Have you ever wanted to join a club but you don’t know what to join? Look no further Park has an esports club. Esports is an online gaming club that gets to compete at tournaments. Coach Jake Utities said he likes esports because it gives students a safe space in school. 

“It provides a fun, social place for a particular student who usually doesn’t have that in school,” Utilities said. “It’s a gateway to go to college; there’s a lot of scholarships and jobs that stem from esports.”

For senior Carlos Anguita-Smith, esports is a very pleasant and open area for people who want to join.

“It’s a fun community here, in esports. it doesn’t matter if you’re good, bad, just picked up the game, or you play it for thousands of hours. Everyone is welcome here; there’s all sorts of levels of competitions you can compete at so it’s just a really welcoming community.” Anguita-Smith said. 

Utities said it’s a good idea to join if you want to build relationships and want a future that has to do with video games. 

“You can make a lot of friends, we have fun playing games, we have a lot of opportunities and if you (are) interested in video games,” Utilities said. “There’s lots of opportunities outside of just playing. Especially in our program here, we’re one of the best in the state. If you are passionate about gaming you should be in esports.” Utities said. 

Senior Nolan Anderson said he enjoys collaborating with his team to design plans for competitions.

“I like esports because I like to compete with other teams.I like to strategize with my team and come up with the best strategies,” Anderson said. “It’s kind of weird now because I got used to it being over Discord.”

Anguita-Smith said the after school activity gives him a peaceful break throughout the day so he doesn’t have to worry about all the other pressures of school. 

“It’s fun because it gives me something different to do after school instead of stressing about homework and college. It’s just really nice to not have to worry about college for an hour,” Anguita-Smith said. “It can be stressful at times. I made it to the state tournaments once and my hands were shaking the whole time so that was interesting, so it can be stressful, but also a lot of fun to just get out there and play.” 

Anderson said occasionally esports can be overwhelming from, although overall it’s a great experience.

“It’s really fun because sometimes you can get stressed and when you get stressed it can be a lot of pressure, but it’s just really fun,” Anderson said. 

For more information, esports has meetings every Thursday after school in room B227.