“We just kind of thought we’d come for preseason, you know, give us something to do. And then we ended up enjoying it,” he said, speaking about himself and his Fortnite teammate. They will both be at the state competition in March.
They have fun playing the game and whatever happens, happens, Tolbers said, but they still like to win.
“I never really played a game in front of a crowd before, so it’s going to be weird,” he said. “I mean, I can kind of relate to football, I guess, but it’ll be different for me for sure. But I’m excited and looking forward to it.”
Another student, Kendal Clarey, has been on the team all three years the program has existed. She is currently the captain for the varsity Marvel Rivals team that will go to the upcoming competition.
“I’ve always really enjoyed video games. Some of my earliest memories are of watching my dad play Skyward Sword in our den,” Clarey said. “So when I heard that they’re doing this competitively, like I should give that a shot.”
In addition to Marvel Rivals, Clarey has also played Super Smash Bros, Rocket League and League of Legends.
She said being able to advance to the state competition has been very exciting for both her and her entire team.
One challenge during the competition is that one of her team members will be in New York for the high school orchestra trip that day, so he will not be able to compete with the rest of the esports team.
“The biggest thing we’re working on right now is to try to slot somebody into that position with three weeks before the state tournament,” Pagel said. “Basically, putting a new person in there that has not been there that entire year is an extremely difficult task, so we’re hoping that we’re getting things figured out and that we’re still fairly competitive at state.”
In addition to specific teams being selected for the state competition, Pagel said their broadcast team will also be recognized.
Albert Lea High School broadcasts live all of the games and has live commentary and player interviews, Pagel explained. The team submits the streams to be graded at the state level, and Albert Lea High School esports won first place out of all the submissions from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming and earned a total of 38 out of 40 points.
“That was a huge thing for us,” he said.
One of the broadcasters is Anderson DeBeau, who also participates in Tiger Vision and AlbertLeaLive.
It’s basically about talking and keeping people engaged during the livestreams, he said.
