Esports at Valley Christian is a video game-based sport that competes against other schools across the state through games such as Super Smash Bros and Rocket League. Super Smash Bros is a platform fighting video game where you choose a Nintendo character and battle your opponent by trying to knock each other off the stage. Rocket League is a video game that combines soccer and driving cars into one. Players work together to advance the ball down the field and score goals in their opponent's net.

The Valley Christian Esports team is coming back from an amazing season last year. Senior Captain Chase DeBoer, who leads the Rocket League team, shared that they already participated in a pre-season tournament in November put on by CCS Presentation Systems. They placed first, beating out Camp Verde and then Desert Vista in the finals to take home the trophy.

Senior Captain Wesley Gentala, who leads the Smash Bros team, shared that his most memorable Esports memory happened last year in a Sundown tournament. Wesley recalled playing in the grand finals against a team that had the full support of the crowd, making the match even more challenging. It all came down to the final game, but despite the odds, the Trojans secured a clutch victory as the underdogs.

This year our Super Smash Bros team has been doing really well so far this season. For their pre-season matches they lost against Hamilton but they came back strong and won against Pima High School, winning 2-1. Wesley's main characters are Diddy Kong, Jigglypuff, and Donkey Kong. Wesley shared, "My toughest match-up is against  players who slow down the game with the use of projectiles. The most successful way I counteract this is just to keep calm and be patient waiting for them to make a mistake." Junior Mecca Brisbon also shared that his main characters are Chrom and Roy and his toughest match up is when anyone with a counter of any move with a disjoint that can hit past ledge.

Our Rocket League team has also been going strong this season. Our Rocket League team had a couple of pre-season matches against Millennium and Independence, winning both those matches 3-0. In Rocket League, team communication is key. Captain Chase shared, "Team communication is extremely important, especially in a team 3v3 game like Rocket League. Both people going for the same ball leaves one person in a 1v1 or 1v2 situation which in most cases is an easy goal for the other team. Because of this, we focus very heavily on communicating who is going first, where we are hitting the ball, who on the opposing team is coming to challenge the ball, and how much boost we have."

Both teams, Super Smash Bros and Rocket League, had their first regular season match recently and they won 3-0 against Phoenix Country Day. Chase shared how he handles pressure and nerves during a high-stakes match, "Just like with a normal sport, focusing on your breathing can be very helpful. We also pray before every game to remind us where we get our value from; the Lord and not our performance."

Make sure to cheer on your Super Smash Bros and Rocket League Esports teams this season.

You can catch all games live on the VCTrojans Athletics Instagram page or through their livestream on Twitch!