This school year has been a little different than the previous ones, for many people, especially for clubs, sports or any of the extracurricular activities. The esports have been doing pretty well this year and are winning 8 to 0.The team can be watched at FHN Knights esports on twitch.com, Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. through 5:30 p.m. The next game they’ll play is against Lindbergh High on April 20 at 4:30 p.m. Despite having to social distance, they are still together and communicating online.

“Esports are anything that is an online competition,” Esports coach Brett Bevill said. “Or I should say anything that could be a part of computers or current video game systems, like Xbox or Playstation, where usually there are teams comprised of anywhere from three to five people playing other teams. When they go, [it’s] head to head in numerous ways of battle of either five versus five or it could be three versus  three like rocket league.”

Esports is a newer club to FHN, with being only three years old. Though it’s not a physical sport, it’s viewed as an important part of the community. They are a group who use their hand-eye coordination and many other mental skills to play against other teams. Just as any club, the esports team has regulations in which the players have to follow when playing in a game.

“So, it’s very much like being a part of a club or sports,” Bevill said. “Things like attendance, things like grades. You have to have a certain GPA. I haven’t looked as far as attending the same days as a game, because it’s virtual this year; But [if] we’re ever in person (which we’re not), there could be other rules, like if there’s a game today you can’t show up to school late.”

Though there isn’t a specific genre of games that the esports team plays, they play games that are multiplayer. They compete in games that are currently popular, so that there will be higher views. And the schools nor the district choses the games, Missouri Scholastic Esports Federation, or MOSEF, choses them. This season they are playing Super Smash Bros Ultimate, League of Legions, Overwatch, and Rocket League.

“[Each session of games are] all different,” Bevill said. “Super Smash [Bros Ultimate] is five versus five. Whoever takes fifteen stocks, or fifteen lives first wins the match. So like, it’s my five or it’s your five. If we take your fifteen lives before they take ours, we win. In League of Legions, you play best of three, usually. And that’s won by defeating the other team’s base. Rocket League is goals and time based. Overwatch is scenario based.”

Freshman Jordan Kaucher is head of the junior varsity esports team. He’s enjoyed having fun with the team this past season and wants to come back the next. Kaucher has been playing video games for years. Taken great interest in the team as soon as he heard about them.

“I have always been a gamer ever since I was little and I have always been one of the better gamers in my family especially when it comes to smash bros and esports,” Kaucher says. “[It] seems like my type of sport and seems fun, which it is.”

The esports have been doing pretty well this year. The team can be watched at FHN Knights esports on twitch.com, Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m. through 5:30 p.m.