NORTON SHORES, Mich. — Mona Shores High School hosted the inaugural Greater Muskegon eSports Association tournament on Saturday.
Seven schools participated in the event, with Ravenna Middle School being the sole middle school to send a team.
The student eSport athletes competed for team and individual titles in Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League.
Dave Droski, English and broadcasting teacher at Mona Shores High School, is also the coach of the school's eSports team and said the event helps students to foster friendships across the area, while also fostering health competition amongst schools.
"There's a lot of kids that participate in eSports who feel like they're the only kids in their school that are doing these things, and when they can branch out and meet kids from other schools they end up creating friendships," said Droski.
He said the new GMEA is modeled after the Greater Muskegon Athletics Association, as his team also competes in the Michigan High School eSports League and the Michigan High School Esports Federation, allowing students to also compete in League of Legends, Splatoon, Smash Brothers, Overwatch, Valorant, Mario Kart and Madden.
"We woke up super early today, at the school and then everybody is in the van right here, which is crazy loud, everybody's super excited," said Jon Swenor, the eSports coach for Ravenna Public Schools.
Ravenna currently has a middle school Rocket League team and was the sole middle school team to compete in the tournament, as Swenor said his students were excited to play against high schoolers.
"I knew that there was an interest, especially in the middle school, so I wanted to start there to actually start the program when they were younger, because it's better for video gamers to start when they're younger, especially for hand eye coordination," said Swenor.
Swenor said many high schoolers have also expressed interest in being part of a team.
"I joined it not knowing that there was actual, like games and stuff involved with this, and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, this is way cooler than I was expecting it to be,'" said Landen Bannink, a sophomore in the Mona Shores eSports team.
Jayluan D. Knight, also a sophomore at Mona Shores, joined after seeing professional Super Smash teams playing on TV.
"I wonder or hope that maybe one day I can have the opportunity to go play competitively," Knight said.
Swenor said his program follows the same grade requirements as other sports, and that many students have seen their academic performance improve after joining the team.
"One of the main reasons I wanted to start this in Ravenna is taking the kids that are less fortunate, that are falling behind in school, and actually giving them something to look forward to after school," Swenor said.
He also said his team does physical exercises as a part of their training, learning to have a healthy balance between video games and other aspects of their lives.
"My goal is to have every single school in Muskegon, Oceania and Newaygo county represented in the GMEA and showing up for these regional tournaments going forward," Droski said.
Droski said he hopes to see eSports join the Michigan High School Athletics Association.
"I see the opportunities that this provides for a lot of amazing kids, and I want that recognition. I want this to be part of the MHSAA. I want to be able to have the state finals at you know, Little Caesars arena or Ford Field," Droski said.
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