BHS eSports team makes semi-finals, 1 earns scholarship

By Adam Howard
BHS ELA Department
& eSports Coach
When most people think about the word “sports,” images of hockey, football, baseball, and soccer likely jump to the forefront of their mind.
In addition to these traditional powerhouses, competitive gaming has quickly established itself alongside these sports.
With competitive video gaming rapidly growing in popularity, Van Buren Public Schools lept at the opportunity to develop its own state-of-the-art facility right inside of BHS.
With state-of-the-art gaming PCs and Nintendo Switch consoles ready for use, students flocked in droves to attend weekly video game club meetings for casual play and craved a chance to compete and show their talent on one of BHS’ inaugural eSports (electronic sports) teams for the 2022-23 school year.
By the end of 2022-23 eSports season, BHS set new standards in the eSports realm as its Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team qualified for the Michigan High School eSports League (MHSEL) Spring Final Four tournament held in Kalamazoo at Western Michigan University’s eSports Arena.
The team consisted of Braylon Watts, Justin Slusher, Ivan Ruffin, and Danard Harvard and was coached by Mark Darket and Adam Howard. The squad arrived with passion, ready to bring home a championship. Despite their valiant efforts, they were eliminated by eventual runner-up Bloomfield Hills High School in the semi-finals.
Congratulations to ALL of BHS’ eSports participants this year!
Before the dust could even settle after the conclusion of VBPS’ first adventure into eSports, more history was made. Senior Dylan Jaszcz became the first VBPS student to earn an eSports scholarship.
On May 25, Danielle Sirekis, head coach of eSports at Lawrence Tech, visited BHS to meet with Dylan for an official scholarship signing. With his family there to support him, Dylan signed himself into the VBPS history books and paved the way for future students to follow in his footsteps.
Dylan earned his scholarship for his gameplay in Rocket League (RL), a 3v3 (three people on each team) soccer title with a twist: players attempt to score goals using RC cars! When asked how Rocket League and eSports in general compare to traditional sports, Dylan made it clear that there are more connections and similarities than one might think.
“In traditional soccer, for example, there are many rotations and ‘field’ placements players need to focus on to gain control of the play. Rocket League is no different,” Jaszcz said.
RL players need to communicate rotations as the ball moves around the digital arena while also predicting their opponents moves and rotations. In essence, understanding the ebbs and flows of the game of soccer could instantly improve any Rocket League squad with the right amount of practice and preparation.
While competition is the heart of eSports, it most importantly provides a sense of community for students that decided traditional sports, like football, are not their passion. In addition to this, eSports offers a variety of other opportunities outside of the competitive realm. In fact, many of these other programs and activities align with many gamers’ potential career pathways.
Essentially, gaming is evolving from a hobby into a career-space.
For example, Danielle Sirekis, Lawrence Tech’s head coach of eSports, said, “Lawrence Tech offers many programs to students outside of the competitive gaming space. We are looking for students that are also good at graphic design, social media and marketing, animation, and content creation in general.”
As year one comes to a close, VBPS couldn’t be more proud of our players. A Top 4 placement at the MHSEL State Championships and Dylan Jaszcz’s district-first eSports scholarship capped off a tremendous entrance into the world of eSports.
While entering a new arena can always be daunting, every single student that logged into a match gave it their all, showcased their Tiger pride, and lived up to BHS’ mission: Purpose, Excellence, & Achievement!
It’s time to power down for the 2022/23 eSports season, but VBPS/BHS will be back this fall! Go Tigers!