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The Kansas State High School Activities Association’s inaugural Esports State Championship is taking place Friday and Saturday at the Olathe Public Schools’ new Innovation Campus, which opened earlier this month and features a state-of-the-art esports arena.
“It’s honestly amazing,” Olathe East freshman Oliver Barnhart said. ”It’s very high tech, very new, and I like the slick design.”
The facility is equipped with screens and cameras everywhere to capture and relay the video-game competitions and the players from a variety of angles.
The arena itself, which is flanked by practice rooms, can accommodate up to 12 players on custom-built PCs or eight players on Nintendo Switch 2s with ample room for spectators.
The action can also be cast to any screen in the building, according to the district’s Chief Technology Officer, Josh Umphrey.
“This was a pretty big project for our district,” he said. “It's something that we were pretty passionate about. Esports is a pretty amazing kind of up-and-coming curriculum and program across the United States.”
Teams across Kansas competed to reach the semifinals in Mario Kart 8, Rocket League and Super Smash Bros.
The best-of-seven semifinals were scheduled for Friday, with the championships and third-place battles set for Saturday.
RELATED | Full KSHSAA Esports State Championship schedule
A team champion will also be declared based on how well schools did across all three games.
“If you asked me four years ago if they would ever have esports and that they would have a whole building, or room, dedicated to that, I wouldn’t have thought that was possible,” Olathe East senior Caleb Thompson said.
Thompson and Barnhart are part of the Hawks’ Mario Kart team, which qualified for state and played Blue Valley in the semifinals.
Olathe West, Blue Valley and Olathe Northwest made the Rocket League semifinals, while local teams made the Super Smash Bros. semifinals.
Umphrey admitted that there will be some nerves ahead of the state meet, but he’s proud of the effort his team put into creating a space unmatched for Kansas City-area high schools.
“Every time I look at it, I look at all the people who had a hand in making this reality,” he said. “It goes all the way back to a sketch on a little piece of paper about what this could be like ... so it just is a very proud moment for our district.”
It’s a premier high-tech space, but Umphrey and Olathe’s esports programs were intentional about not making it feel exclusive.
“When you look at what it costs to buy a gaming PC or a Switch, it's not in everyone's budget to be able to do that, but Olathe, I think, really prides itself on making this opportunity available to all kids,” Umphrey said.
There are many “soft skills” that kids can learn from playing video games together, as it takes a lot of collaboration, planning and teamwork to excel.
Increasingly, esports players can also earn college scholarships, so it’s a big deal.
Umphrey said he has seen the way it helps some students feel more connected to their school, community and education.
The players feel it, too.
“It’s definitely been a close bonding experience,” Barnhart said.
He also plays soccer, while both Banhart and Thompson run cross country and track as well — and they cautioned against scoffing at esports.
“It’s 100% just as competitive as cross country and track,” Thompson said.
The event is free, so you can go check it out for yourself on Saturday.
“Hopefully, we bring a packed house in,” Umphrey said.
The Rocket League third-place match takes place at 9 a.m., followed by the Mario Kart third-place match at 10:30 a.m.
The finals begin with Rocket League at noon, followed by Super Smash Bros at 2 p.m. and Mario Kart at 3:30 p.m. The Super Smash Bros. third-place match is also at 2 p.m.
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