Kennedy’s ESports team won the IAHSEA State Championship for Overwatch 2 held in the Orpheum Theater in Marshalltown. The team played three matches in total, defeating Linn-Mar, East High and Dallas Center-Grimes before they came out on top as the state champions.
ESports is a competitive style of gaming, normally with a team-based video game like Overwatch 2 but can be individual games like Mario Kart. Kennedy ESports Coach Jason Lester founded the ESports Club when a student asked him to host.
“A student named Nat McCord came to me three years ago when I first started teaching. He had heard I was a computer gamer and asked me if I would start a club,” Lester said. “We are in our third year, it has taken us a lot of work and a lot of money to get to this point. Our first year we had no computers and kids would bring them from home.”
Matches are played out in five games. Kennedy beat Linn-Mar 3-1, East High 3-0 and Dallas Center-Grimes 3-1. This is the first year that Kennedy has won an ESports state competition and the Esports Rocket League on Feb. 22 where they placed sixth.
“There was a good atmosphere and everyone regardless of what team they were on, we had fun together and we went out to eat with the Washington team which was super fun,” sophomore Dallas Keller said.
