Entering Assistant Principal Gerry Coleman’s office, tucked behind his desk, are computer monitors and headphones, all belonging to students who participate in the program he advises: Esports. Although Esports in Iowa has a fall, winter, and spring season, the City High team had its inaugural season this year during the winter season.
“Esports is online gaming where we’re competing with other high schools throughout the state, and there are different titles that we play each season. We’re in the spring season right now, so our titles are Valorant, League of Legends, and Mario Kart,” Coleman said.
Coming into this first year of Esports, Coleman was not well-versed in the world of Esports, but through his involvement this winter and spring, and his work with the participating students, he has learned a lot.
“I did Esports because of Zakai Kreiner [‘25]. He had talked to me about wanting to do it, and I said, Let’s try to make it happen. So, shout out to Zakai for being the one who kind of was the impetus for making this happen and pushing us to get where we are,” Coleman said.
Additionally, the neighboring high schools, West High School and Liberty High School, both had preexisting Esports teams. With that in mind, and after seeing the extensive list of Iowa high schools that participate in Esports, Coleman felt City High needed to be a part of it, too.
As of the spring season, City High Esports has 20 total players, distributed differently depending on the season’s titles. Currently, the Valorant team has five players, League of Legends has five players, and Mario Kart has four players. While the team does not have many extra players, the goal for next year is to grow.
“The plan is to grow this thing a little more and talk to the middle school as these ninth graders are coming up and say We’ve got eSports at City High, and here’s how to get involved,” Coleman said.
In growing the number of participants, a goal for the team is to have enough students involved to have both JV and Varsity teams for the titles they are playing. The team intends to build a roster by promoting Esports to incoming freshmen at the beginning of the year, although participation can be dependent on the titles being played.
For example, while this season’s titles are Valorant, League of Legends, and Mario Kart, the team’s winter season titles were Overwatch and Rocket League. The games rotate through the year, but the competition style stays the same.
“Each week, we compete with another school’s Esports team. It’s all online [at City High] until the state meet, because if you make it to state, they play in Marshalltown.” Coleman said.
This season, all games are best out of three to win in competition. Based on the results of the regular season matches, teams can make it to the state competition. While City High’s team did not go to state, Mr. Coleman feels that the teams for this season’s titles have been competitive and could be potential qualifiers.
“They’re serious. Monitors, backpacks, and all those things are what [the students] bring in for their gaming. They are gaming at home and then bringing their things here to play. So it’s been fun,” Coleman said.
The unique thing about Esports is that the titles are games that many participants are already playing at home. This also easily opens up the club to new players, as most prospective participants are already familiar with the titles for each season.
But just like any other sport at City High, Esports is a state-sanctioned event, meaning it has school expectations. All participants must be passing their classes and be without behavioral problems. This also means that anyone can participate. Any students interested in Esports can come to a meeting and get involved.
