Bloomfield Hills dominates league championship
A year ago there was no eSports program at Bloomfield Hills High School. Last week, the Black Hawks took home their first two championships.
At the Michigan High School ESports League (MHSEL) championships, held at Oakland University May 7, the Black Hawks beat Northville and East Kentwood to take home titles in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and League of Legends.
“I knew we were going to make it to the final as soon as the season started,” said Black Hawks League of Legends coach Nick Booza. “We knew we had that kind of talent as soon as we put our team together.”
The team was formed last fall after a group of students approached Aaron Strager, a Math teacher at the high school. Stranger accepted the role of head coach and they put a framework for a team in place during summer and fall. This spring season is their first season in competition.
“We had always wanted a team for the last three years, but nobody was able to put all the pieces together until this year and because of those student organizers it finally came to fruition,” Strager explained.
He originally set up one tryout, which then became four in order to give everyone a chance to try out due to Covid restrictions. Strager said half of the 44-person team was not even able to participate until halfway through the spring season.
“Throughout this season their competitiveness is off the charts. They have been practicing day and night,” the coach said of his team. “They have the drive to match or exceed most other sports teams that I have ever seen.”
The MHSEL began in the fall of 2020 with 20 schools with 30 teams competing in a variety of games such as Hearthstone, Splatoon 2 and Overwatch. There are full regular season and playoff schedules for fall and spring leagues and this year the number of teams has grown to 140 from 53 schools from around the state.
The MHSEL is hosted by the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) and the Michigan Association of Student Councils and Michigan
Association of Honor Societies (MASC/MAHS) in partnership with PlayVS.
“The kids are playing the
games, it is just a matter of now they are doing it competitively as part of their school culture. They are already playing with their friends, now they are representing their schools,’ said Ryan Cayce, Director of Digital Learning and Resources at MASSP.
With the popularity of the sport growing, Cayce anticipates over 75 schools with up to 175 teams next season.
“It is like an ‘if you build it they will come’ situation. We are waiting for everybody to come now that the word is out and we are now established,” said Wendy Zdeb, executive director of the MASSP. “It is about providing the opportunity to kids who are not involved in anything else. We are trying to make this a big deal for them.”
Matches and tournaments are streamed through Shoutcast and teams work with PlayVS for organizational assistance and scheduling.
Although many universities now offer scholarships for eSports, Booza said that players on his team do not have that in their future plans.
“Six of the seven players on my (League of Legends) are seniors and I don’t think any of them have aspirations to play at the college level,” said Booza. “They are all incredibly rounded students who are achieving in much more than just this.”
Strager admitted that eSports has not yet taken a foot-hold in athletic departments around the state, but he is proud that the Bloomfield Hills community has embraced his upstart team.
“It was the result of students with a vision who just wanted the support they needed to make it happen and the administration, the athletic department and parents have all been behind us,” said Strager.