During the spring season of West’s eSports team, the team played “Mario Kart 8,” a racing game. They had practices on Mondays and games on Tuesdays. The team was unable to make it to state and ended the season with a 5-2 record.

The coach, Jeff Conner, gave his thoughts on the season: “I think it was a great season. You know, I was a little sad that we didn’t make it to the state tournament, but I think it was a successful season overall.”

This year the format for Mario Kart changed. In previous years teams competed in a 1v1v1 and chose any track. This year the teams competed in a 1v1 and chose cups, a group of four tracks. Another rule was also added near the start of the season that changed the way that players played the game. 

“So controversially, I actually like the format change,” Conner said. “Most of the players did not like it because it’s pretty different than what we were doing before, and pretty different from how it’s typically done.”

Conner stated that the new format brought in technological barriers, but made it easier for new players to play.

Conner thinks that their whole team grew throughout the season.“Everybody grew, I think that I saw all these students, all the players, working hard and trying their best. And you know, you can’t ask more than that,” Conner said. 

The team ended their season with a party on May 12.