In a small room connected to Room 9, the players of the West High Esports team can be seen hanging out and playing games. Every Wednesday, no matter the season, the West Esports team has optional practices.
The team had an eventful fall season. The team went to the finals and placed 7th in their division. Currently, the winter season is in play. However, the team does not compete in any games during the winter season. In the other seasons, the team has mandatory Monday practices and games on Tuesday. They play “Super Smash Bros Ultimate” and “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” during those seasons. However, the team only has Wednesday practices during the winter.
Emma Semler ’24, a former West student and team captain, is in charge of these practices. She plans to help with the team for as long as she can while pursuing a degree in education.
Semler explains the difference between regular practices and Wednesday practices.
“I would say that Wednesday practices are more meant to be a social gathering, and we still do practice important skills for whichever game we’re playing in the season, but it’s more meant to be a casual experience,” Semler said.
Last year, during the Wednesday practices, the team mostly played their spring season game, “Mario Kart.”
“We would all join together and play as a whole team. Sometimes we would try and practice our skills, but other times we would just make up whatever rules we wanted and have fun,” Semler said.
Semler hopes to make some changes to the Wednesday practices from last year.
“I think what I would like to do is try to do a better job of planning structured activities and also having multiple choices on what to do during the day or during the practice,” Semler said.
Semler recalls one of her favorite memories during the Wednesday practices. It was the day the team practiced their communication skills.
“I think one of my favorite memories from Wednesday practice is when I actually came to the practice with a plan on what we were going to do. So we were practicing communication during, like a Mario Kart match,” Semler said.
Alongside communication, the team plans to work on learning DLC tracks and item usage in “Mario Kart” for the spring season.
“I feel like learning the new DLC tracks is very important, because we have had like, almost all of the tracks, [have been] competitively legal for at least a year now, but they’re still really fresh, and I think it would be good to focus on getting familiar with those new tracks. And then also, another thing that I think would be good to work on is item usage,” Semler said.
Semler is excited for the spring season to come.
“I’m so excited for the spring season because Mario Kart is definitely my stronger game, and I feel like I wasn’t able to provide as much help to everyone during the Smash Bros season,” Semler said. “So being able to be knowledgeable in the game that we’re playing is going to be very helpful, and I’m excited to make new memories with the team.”
