The ESports team recently announced plans to reach out to high school gamers and younger teams by branching out and supporting gamer-related events at local high schools, as well as sponsoring other related events.

One of these types of outreach efforts took place last weekend when the team’s coach, Luke Trotz, visited a nearby high school to help out with an NHL video game competition among high school gaming teams.

The SFU team has also met with high school students interested in gaming in recent months. 

“We have skirmished (a gaming term meaning a minor fight) against local high schools and talked to players who are interested in applying to the team,” said League of Legends team member Mike Miller.

The team recently opened its spring season with the Hearthstone and Smash Brothers teams winning their first matches.

To prepare for matches, the team completes a variety of tasks.

“There are a couple different things we do,” said assistant coach Bobby Anderson. “We check out the team we have been assigned to, we have practice sessions to work on strategy, as well as watching some of their old matches, and watching videos online to try and learn from them.”

The team also practices on their own. 

“We practice two times a week for two hours on our own time,” said Miller. “I put in about 30 hours a week. We also look at other teams and strategize.”

Students interested in finding out more about SFU Esports should visit francis.edu/esports.