The Apopka High School Esports Club is getting ready to win big this year, and we at The Blue & White got to interview three key members of the club, the founder, the sponsor, and one of the club members. The Esports Club is happy to share information on itself with the rest of our school to let others know what it’s all about. Let’s dive into what the club actually is.

The Apopka High School Esports Club is something for students who play video games (which is many of us) to game on a more competitive level. “Video games? That’s not a real sport!” is something that the club members have heard far too many times. Like athletes however, these players devote their time, energy, and most effort to becoming not just good, but great at something that they’re passionate about. For the past three years, starting in January of 2019, that’s exactly what the club has been doing.  The club is led by a student named Jack Vertus, and sponsered by coach Tevin Williams.

The club’s most popular games are Valorant, Rocket League, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Valorant is a team-based FPS (first-person shooter) game where players are assigned to either the attacking or defending team, with each team having five players on it. Rocket League is a fantastical sport-based video game, to simply put it: it’s soccer with cars, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a fighting game involving Nintendo characters and some from other game series. The club rarely meets up in person, they meet on a 3rd party platform called Discord, a chat and video call app that allows these players to meetup in the comfort of their own house with their team. The club’s players will compete with Esports clubs from other schools, Jack Vertus lets us know that they have won against a couple of clubs already. The club is excited to have a normal-ish school year to play with other school’s teams, the way it works is they compete online for the HSEL (High School Esports League) and PlayVS, platforms that connect our Apopka players with players from other schools. HSEL is the premier and largest national Esports league that provides high school students the chance participate in competitive gaming. Not only can the Esports Club be good for those with gaming as a hobby, it can also provide scholarships to students at Apopka. Let’s cheer on our blue and white gamers!