In the past couple of years with advances in video gaming and live streaming technology esports is something sweeping the internet on a national scene. Millions of players and dollars are at stake for first-place prizes, and now esports is beginning to get some of the mainstream attention it deserves.

Along with the rise of various esports leagues, over 100+ colleges and universities have official esports teams; some of these colleges even offer esports scholarships. With the rise in popularity of esports professionally it is only a matter of time before esports becomes an activity on the high school front.

Many Wilsonville students have banded together to make high school esports possible, and as of last week, official practices are happening for the Wilsonville Esports Club. Along with the club meetings that take place every Tuesday at lunch, the practices take place every two days and start at 5:00. To get an inside understanding of what esports practices look like we interviewed Alex Duval, an esports player for Wilsonville. When asked about what the practices look like, he said, “Alex Duval.”

Duval provided an inside scoop on what a typical practice looks like: “We basically get on a discord call, and we play a bunch of matches at home.” This is really interesting as esports practices are one of the few extracurriculars in the school that is done from the comfort of home.

This week represents a milestone in esports, as now practices are being held on a weekly basis. To get a gauge on what the future is for esports in Wilsonville, student leader of the esports club Connor Larson spoke up. “We definitely will [play other school teams], the OSAA did delay this season due to a lack of size. But other teams are getting their teams out, teams are getting better and people are getting interested.” This is exciting news for the future of esports and it will be interesting for us to see how esports expands in the future.