From USD 428 Communications
On Wednesday, Dec. 3, players from Great Bend High School's inaugural esports team competed in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate against Solomon High School. Great Bend’s team had some close matches but were able to finish victorious without dropping a set.
For those not familiar with esports, which is almost everyone, KSHSAA now has statewide companions in three video games. Super Smash brothers Ultimate (SSB), Rocket, League, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. SSB’s is, by far, the most popular game in Kansas, so it gets its own day of the week to compete, Wednesdays. The other two games share Thursday for their competitions. SSBs teams consist of three players and one or two bench players. Each of the three players competes one at a time in a 1 vs 1 format against a player from another school. Each team member has a best 2 of 3 games. The competition is best 3 of 5 sets so If one team wins all three 1 v 1 matches the game is over. And this is exactly what Great Bend was able to do on Wednesday.
Logan Urban started things off. His character choice was Samus, from the Metroid franchise. Logan used Samus’s power suit attacks to defeat his opponent from Solomon HS, who used Kirby and Ganondorf. Jacob Parks was Great Bend's next competitor. He played as Sora and won a pair of close games against his opponent, who used Greninja and Piranha Plant. Dilana Goodenough was the final GBHS participant. She played as Peach and defeated Mr. Game and Watch and Ridley to solidify the Panther victory.
“If feels great to win our first time out. It's really exciting to be involved in starting a new sport. The kids have been really hyped this week and I’m glad they were able to get the victory” commented Coach Jake Hofflinger
When asked what he thinks about having esports in school Logan said, “I think it’s a great opportunity for kids who aren’t into athletics to represent and support their school”
Jacob said, “I think it’s a great outlet and a big passion that many students have and I think it is great that it is being recognized in schools and used to display more skills within students.”