Esports club returns to Lakewood
The club has a new sponsor and is meeting on Wednesdays and Thursdays during lunch.
Freshman Carlson Gooding picks a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate map for the Gaming Club to play in English teacher and club sponsor Christopher Mosher’s classroom in October. The club plays on a balanced map because it shows your skill at the game. “I like Final Destination because it’s a good normal stage,” Gooding said.
November 18, 2021
English teacher Christopher Mosher has re-started an esports gaming team at Lakewood High School where students can compete against each other and other schools in various games, including Rocket League, Counter Strike Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Nintendo Super Smash Brothers, Madden, NBA 2k21, Mario Kart, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.
Mosher said he was in an esports group when he was in high school and has been playing games since he was 5 years old.
“I thought that it was a great opportunity, both socially and educationally for the students, and they get a scholarship,” Mosher said.
There are at least 30 students in the club now. The club meets during lunch and is split into two days so that more students can participate. Students can play games on various systems, including two Nintendo switches, a virtual reality headset and a PC. Some students bring their own personal computers and some of them play on Xbox and PlayStation.
Students play the systems on a projector and a second TV in the meeting room. They meet in Mosher’s class on Wednesdays and Thursdays during first and second lunches. In addition, they sometimes meet on Fridays after school to compete in tournaments.
“We have a lot of bus riders, so I try to make it available during lunch for everyone,” Mosher said. “I know there are a lot of gamers at the school and there are small groups of friends, but if we can have one big group where they could talk about the games and practice the games, and some of them even have opportunities to win scholarships for college.”
Competitions are held every week and are posted on the website High School Esports League, https://www.highschoolesportsleague.com/.
Junior Tavion Wheeler won an NBA 2K21 competition, 2-0, against a student at a school across the country. The competition took place at their homes and Wheeler ended up beating the opponent 2-0.
“I felt pretty good about getting the win. Playing 2K is my game I’m naturally good at it,” Wheeler said.
The Rainbow Six team is currently undefeated with a winning streak of 6-0. The team is led by senior Robert Zachem, the club founder, who wrote a column for SNN three years ago, describing how Lakewood needs an esports gaming team and describing his experience seeing an esports competition in Miami.
“I’m glad that the school has a club where students can come together and socialize and play with each other, so everyone is included and no one feels alone in the school,” Zachem said.
