An 8-0 season and a representative team winning 1200 dollars at a state-wide tournament, the Rock Bridge Esports A-team hopes to bring another championship to RBHS. Both Esports semi-finals and finals are at Ukatsu this weekend, a gaming center that helps local youth play video games casually and competitively. This weekend marks the end of the “double round robin”, an eight week round of competitions where the six teams from RBHS, Hickman High School and Battle High School competed against each other twice.
Coach Kevin Leet has focused on this season because of his adoration for Overwatch, the high school competitive game set by Ukatsu for the semester.
“I’ve played Overwatch myself for a little over a year. I really like it, and Ukatsu contacted me about [coaching] because they knew I was interested,” Leet said. Ukatsu is a local business; they have a really nice computer setups. Kids buy time to go there and play with friends. They have lock ins and day camps and stuff; there’s 40 slots, and they’re all filled.”
Leet refers to senior Michael Cecil as the leader of the A-team, saying he doesn’t need to do much coaching as long as Cecil is around. Cecil said the strategy they will have playing against Hickman and Battle this weekend.
“To be honest, playing against Hickman, we know who their best players are. If we focus on them, then we have an advantage,” Cecil said.
The team hopes to continue to recruit gamers around the school, doing promotion to attract new players. Cecil said the team posted flyers, attended club fairs and used word of mouth in order to get new recruits around school or also up-and-coming freshman who are interested. Sophomore Ben Loeb will be a leader of the team once Cecil and the other seniors leave. He laments the loss of talent in leadership and effort this year’s seniors have.
“I think we’ll struggle more, but our team is good at adapting,” Loeb said. “The other teams are also losing players, so it’ll balance out.”
The team feels certain about being able to acquire another win this weekend due to their past victories. Leet is thrilled with the success this season. While he has enjoyed being a coach, he said he is considering asking for a replacement because of his inexperience with League of Legends, which will be played frequently next season.
“I am focused on this season, so I’m not sure if I’ll be here. I’ve never played League of Legends, so I would definitely want to defer to something,” Leet said. “I am pretty sure we are going to win the whole thing [this season]. This team has invested the time and energy needed to do well.”
