Cal High’s Esports Club is leveling up.
The club hosted an open house in March where about two dozen students and administrators from the school and San Ramon Valley Unified School District came together to learn more about the club and its potential growth.
Administrators played games on the computers set up in the second floor staff lounge under the guidance of the club members. Even Cal Principal Demetrius Ball tried his luck at gaming by playing “Overwatch”.
Currently, the esports scene at Cal is in the form of the club. But in a couple of years, gamers and their adviser Stephen Farwell hope the growing popularity of esports will allow students to represent Cal and compete against other schools just like traditional student athletes.
An esport is when teams or individuals competitively play against one another in video games.
“Just think of it like a digitized sport,” Farwell said. “It’s similar in a way to a lot of the sports here at Cal, with individuals able to have an organized structure as opposed to hanging out after school and playing games.”
The club is working closely with the California Interscholastic Foundation (CIF) – the organization that governs high school sports throughout the state – to bring the esports scene to state athletics.
Club members hope to create a more competitive environment much like a school sport with tournaments and championships, such as EBALs, NCS and states.
Many current popular esports worldwide include “League of Legends”, “Counter-Strike”, “Valorant”, “Fortnite”, “Overwatch”, “Rocket League”, and “Rainbow Six Siege”, according to the esports chart.
Cal’s club currently supports “Overwatch”, “Valorant”, “Fortnite”, “Rocket League”, “Super Smash Bros Ultimate”, and “League of Legends”, but plans to keep expanding the list.
As an organized team, each person has a specific role crucial to the end goal: winning.
But each game has unique roles. For example, in “League of Legends” roles are divided into three lanes: the top, middle, and bottom. Each lane has a different play style.
But another video game such as “Valorant” will typically have four different roles per team. A unique role that is prominent throughout all esports team games is the in-game leader, or IGL.
“Just like you have a team captain in a sport, we have a shot caller or an in-game leader,” Farwell said. “They’re the ones telling the group, ‘Hey, we should push forward or we should go for flag A or B’.”
Being a part of a gaming community is what led junior Benjamin Forsyth to found the club at the beginning of the year.
“I know a lot of people that were never really excited to come to school,” Forsyth said. “But having this club helped them push through the day so at the end we can all play as a team.”
Forsyth enjoys playing as a team while making new friends and having fun at school. The club welcomes all students as long as they abide by the golden rule, which is being kind and respectful to others.
“You’re welcome in here and you know just forget about everything that’s outside and bothering you,” Farwell said. “Escape into the game world and go play with your friends.”
To be an official member of the team, students have to be invited. But all that means is the club requires potential members to show up to a meeting and ask to join.
“We meet up every odd Wednesday during lunch and to join the club, you literally need to show up, come find me and then we can get you in,” Forsyth said.
Ball said he enjoys how closely-knit Cal’s Esports Club is and how well they are at fostering a community for all members.
The vision of Cal’s Esports Club is to foster an inclusive environment where students grow through teamwork, communication, respect, resiliency, sportsmanship, leadership, and strategic thinking.
The team base is located on the second-floor staff lounge, where six computers have been set up for gaming. The club uses Lenovo Gaming Laptops that use 4070’s with a 240hz refresh rate monitor at 1080p, so it’s safe to say they have some pretty good gear.
The club has 30 members and in the future hopes to expand to accommodate more students. Aside from expanding the gaming community, the club also aims to help members explore career paths related to or stemming from gaming.
Such career paths fall under four main branches: strategists, organizers, content creators, and entrepreneurs. For example, under the content creation branch, there are paths such as software development, streaming, journaling, and shout casting.
Esports is growing in popularity at the collegiate level as well. Schools such as UC Berkeley and UC Irvine are known for their competitive esports teams.
Kelly Hilton, the school district’s director of technology, enjoyed watching the team play and is excited for the future of the club.
“That was a very magical moment, the partnership of the community was super, super exciting to experience,” Hilton said. “It truly felt like looking at a new landscape.”
The club is funded by the San Ramon Valley Education Foundation (SRVEF), which funds school sports and educational programs.
