Things tend to move pretty quickly in the world of high school Esports. Just a couple years ago, hardly any schools in Illinois had an Eports club team. As recently as May of 2018, Naperville North did not have an Esports program, but by May of 2019, the Huskies varsity Overwatch team won the IHSEA state championship despite being in its first year of existence. Just over six months later, the whirlwind of success continues for club sponsor Chris Terpstra and the Naperville North Esports team.
After winning the Midwest division in December, The 7 person Huskies Overwatch team headed to Santa Ana, California to compete with three of the top teams in the country in search of the NASEF Championship.
Making it to California this year and winning state last season has had many positive affects on the future of the club according to team member Gavin Drummond.
After losing two team members to graduation, one of the clubs newest participants, freshman Elise Huang, stepped into a key role with the varsity Overwatch group this year.
With six players competing in Overwatch at a time, communication, strategy and even advanced scouting are vital to a team’s success, just like any other sport.
For senior captain Chris Neumann, being able to have so much fun even while putting in challenging work at practice is what makes Eports so special.
In the NASEF Championship, the Huskies won their semi final matchup with Xavier High School from New York. In the finals, Naperville North’s incredible run came to an end with a second place finish behind Rocklin High School from California.
With unprecedented early success with the program and over 150 kids taking part in the club at Naperville North alone, an exciting future awaits for Esports members in districts 203 and 204, and across the state of Illinois.
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