The esports program at Buena High School is an exciting opportunity for many students, but many people involved believe that the team can grow even further in the future. As esports become more popular worldwide, schools are also beginning to consider them as a serious competitive activity, similar to traditional sports.
In the coming years, Buena’s esports team hopes to attract more students to the program. At the moment, players mainly compete in games like “Super Smash Bros Ultimate” and “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe”. In the future, more games could be added if interest continues to increase. With more participants, Buena looks to add a junior varsity (JV) team, organize internal tournaments and organize competitions against other local teams and schools.
Another part of this vision is to improve the training opportunities for the players. Some students hope that Buena will eventually set up its own esports room. This could be equipped with more powerful computers or consoles, faster internet and fixed training times. This would allow players to focus more on strategy, communication and teamwork.
“Playing for school feels very different than just playing at home. When we compete against other schools in “Super Smash Bros.”, you really feel like you’re representing Buena, just like athletes on other teams,” e-Sport team member Joshua Toria said.
The team’s coach, David Vallejo, also sees great potential for the future of the program. In his opinion, esports impart important skills that are also useful outside of the game.
Esports helps students develop communication, quick decisions and teamwork,” Vallejo said. “These skills are important not only in the game but also in school and later in professional life.”
Many students believe that esports could become an even more important part of school life in the future. If more and more schools form teams and organize competitions, esports could eventually get the same priority as traditional school sports.
With dedicated players, supportive coaches and growing interest, Buena High School’s esports team has a good chance of developing and becoming an integral part of the school community.
