With a new arena and a drive to compete, the Lawrence Central E-Sports team went into the inaugural season ready to give their all until the clock hit zero. The team had their first Valorant match on January 12th  against William Henry Harrison High School and won as well as a Rocket League match against Michigan City High School, where they won 5-4.

This performance can be attributed to the team’s communication and teamwork, as 9th-grade Marvel Rivals and Valorant player Devion Parks had this to say about the team, ”They’re pretty good and helpful, they like to explain stuff, you know? They like to talk a lot outside and inside of school, so that helps us get better”.  Richard Robinson, a 10th grader who also plays Marvel Rivals, shares his view “Do they communicate well? To an extent. Some matches they don’t but overall yes”.

Although team performance is important, personal performance matters just as much. When asked how he feels about his own performance, Robinson said, “My performance can vary sometimes. If I don’t perform well, then I would try to do better for my team and communicate with them”. The character you play also impacts your performance. Parks shares his favorite character to play, “I like to play support,  so I play main characters like Luna, Jeff, stuff like that.”

The next match is a Rocket league game on February 5th against Westfield High School and the last two matches before playoffs will be back to back matches against William Henry Harrison High School with Super Smash Brothers Ultimate on February 25 and Rocket League on February 26. Due to having trouble with recruiting for the team, E-Sports haven’t been able to play many matches. Despite this, they continue to practice and hone their skills and prepare for the single elimination playoffs, which begin in the first week of March.