Norse News

By Justin S. Last year our team got close to state in all games. All games can either be played online or face to face. All schools may have one varsity team and one JV team per game. Each player may only play on one team per round (usually by week). All communication and organization will run through the Designated Esports Coordinator; however, there may be a game-specific coach. Teams are required to play online or face-to-face with their opponents. High school esports is part of the gaming industry. In the gaming industry, you can win millions of dollars from winning a tournament. Take Fortnite for an example. According to Mathew Players from EsprtsGG, players can win hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars. In some tournaments, you win nothing.  Sometimes you win millions of dollars. The Iowa High School Esports Association (IASHEA) hosts a number of games  throughout the year for student-athletes to participate in.  Smite is a 5 vs. 5 tower defense shooter ga...

By Charlie W. The Roland-Story esports Overwatch team has started the season off cold. After finishing 4th at state last year, they have started the season 1-2, losing to both Williamsburg and Centerville 0-3 in each loss. This shift in competitiveness is likely due to a loss of three of the five starters from the previous year.  Overwatch is a 5v5 shooter where two teams fight for control of an objective, and the game relies heavily on team coordination to out position the other team, while picking characters that play well against the other team.  That is why having over half the team being a new player can impact the success of a team, but there is still time for this new roster to gel and make it back to state since there are still four games left in the regular season. If the team were to win out, they would finish the season 5-2, and would make the play-ins for state. Play-ins are where you play a match against another team for the opportunity to go to state.  Coach...

By Dylan N.  Roland-Story esports has had incredible success within the past few years. Examples include the Overwatch and Smite teams attending state tournaments last year. This year marks the third year RSHS has participated in esports through the Iowa High School Esports Association. One of the titles for fall season is Super Smash Bros. Super Smash Bros. is a player vs. player fighting game where you can play famous Nintendo characters against your friends or online. The Roland-Story Smash Bros. team features seniors Nathan Barkema, Braden Vinson, and Logan McLain; junior Logan Bunn; sophomores Aidan Lowther and Justin Shanks; and freshmen Ethan Mikel, Kyler Jensen, and Kail Hendersen. Practices happen after school, and involve matches against teammates as well as scrimmages against other schools. Their games go with three rounds where the team who gets two wins takes it all home for a win. The scoring system is set to have five players from each team battle it out over vario...