Tattnall County High School’s (TCHS) e-sports team is looking to improve as they prepare for the spring tournament in April 2022.
The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) e-sports spring tournament will begin April 18 through the 29. Each year, there is a spring and fall state tournament.
E-sports is exactly what it sounds like ―online gaming. E-sports is a GHSA sanctioned sport with no regional classes or sanctions. E-sports requires a tremendous amount of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity from players to achieve and sustain success. It reaches beyond traditional sports to create an all-inclusive environment that breaks barriers, according to the GHSA website.
Last fall, one team from TCHS made it to the round of 64 in the Super Smash Brothers tournament out of 170 teams. One team, the number eight seed from TCHS, finished the competition in the elite eight for the state tournament.
E-sports Head Coach Brooks Robins is assisted by Cassandra Hardy, Bryan Blake, and Wesley Waters. Blake and Waters work in the IT department and often aid the players with the technology.
The league began during the spring of 2021. The team now has 25 active players who practice Monday through Thursday, also competing in matches from Tuesday through Thursday.
“E-sports started at TCHS as an answer to not having enough kids involved due to COVID-19. It turned into getting kids, who previously did not have an outlet, to find something constructed and fun,” Robins said. “Girls have actually become more involved. We had one girl last year, and we now have eight this year.”
Currently, hundreds of colleges and universities offer tens of millions of dollars in e-sports scholarship money, including Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. That number grows substantially every year as more and more schools spin up e-sports programs.
If any student is interested in joining e-sports, visit Robins’ classroom, room 709. Robins is also a biology and physical science teacher at TCHS.
For more information on e-sports, visit https://www.ghsa.net/esports.