A new team has joined the ranks at James A. Garfield High School—not on a field or court, but in a digital arena. The school’s first E-sports team launched this year, offering students a competitive outlet for their video gaming skills. On the Beyond the Bureau podcast, co-hosts SadieMae Ewell and Quinn Roborecki sat down with students Carter Hoover and Michael Khairallah to talk about their experience as pioneers of the program.
Building a Team from Scratch
The idea for E-sports at JAG began at the middle school level with principal Mr. Bartz and was brought to the high school this year under the guidance of Mr. Cutlip, who is working to develop and expand the program. Hoover recalled how the first teams were formed casually: “One day I walked into Mr. Cutlip’s class, and he handed me a paper. He was like, ‘E-sports,’ and I was like, ‘Sure.’ I texted a bunch of my friends and asked if they were free on Wednesdays. And that was it.” From there, informal teams took shape. “There wasn’t really a drafting process. We kind of just threw them together,” Hoover said. Khairallah later formed a second team, and both groups have evolved over the season, with students coming and going. “Half the roster isn’t what we started with at the beginning of the year,” Hoover said.
Each team is currently focused on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Teams consist of four members: three active players and one alternate. Matches are structured as a series of one-on-one games between opposing teams’ players in a best-of-three format. “Say Mikey beats this kid from Florida,” Hoover explained. “Then I go up and I have to beat another person from that same team. It’s kind of hard to explain if you’re not in the flesh with it.”
Expansion Plans: More Games, More Teams
The team isn’t stopping at Smash Bros. Plans are already in motion to expand the program to include Fortnite, College Football, and Marvel Rivals—games that offer team-based competition while remaining school-appropriate. “Right now, we’re looking at College Football—a four-player game. We’re gonna get a team for that,” Hoover said. “Depending on how big the program gets, we might add another game.” Khairallah, who favors Marvel Rivals, noted the program avoids “bloody” games like Call of Duty due to school policy. “It’s literally just sports games or friendly games like Fortnite,” he said.
Each game will likely have its own team, giving students the opportunity to choose based on their interests and skills. Hoover plans to captain a College Football team, while Khairallah is eyeing Marvel Rivals.
A New Kind of Competition
JAG’s E-sports teams compete virtually using software called Player vs. Player (PvP), which allows schools to schedule games, communicate with opponents, and scout other teams. “We’ve had schools from Florida, Vermont, Michigan, Virginia—it’s been schools all over the East Coast,” Hoover said. Their first match was against a team from North Carolina. Surprisingly, most of their opponents have been private or Catholic schools. “We never got anyone from Ohio,” he added.
Matches take place every Wednesday at 4 p.m. during the season, which runs about 10 weeks, wrapping up just before spring break. Players show up early for practice and connect with the other team to set up the match. If an opponent doesn’t show within 15 minutes, it counts as a forfeit. “It’s a very organized system once you get the hang of it,” Hoover said. “But the first time, it felt like I was trying to make diamonds or split the atom.”
Although there are no live streams yet, Hoover noted that some schools with larger programs have multiple Twitch channels for broadcasting their matches. “They streamed our game—and we lost. It was very embarrassing,” he laughed.
More Than a Game
For Hoover and Khairallah, being part of the inaugural E-sports team is both meaningful and fun. “It’s an honor and it’s also a privilege to be the first,” Hoover said. “I don’t wanna toot my own horn, but I was the first person to sign up… I did found this team. It was my idea for the jerseys.” While the players are serious about competition, they also want to enjoy the experience. “This is not my main sport,” Hoover said. “I like to have fun with it. We mess around as much as anybody else.”
The team has already faced some tough competition. “We went down by two and we clutched up and won the game 3-2,” Khairallah said. “It gets pretty intense. I started screaming a few times,” added Hoover. “If you hear someone screaming at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, it’s probably me, and I’m probably losing.”
Looking ahead, the team hopes to make it to states in the future—and maybe even beyond. “There’s a competition where the first-place team wins like $10,000 for their school,” Hoover said. “We get on the bus, go down to Florida, and play some randoms. Wouldn’t be a bad idea.”
Advice to New Players
Their advice to students considering E-sports is simple: give it a shot. “If you've got free time and you got OK video games and you don’t want to be boring, do it,” Hoover said. “We just mess around and have fun.” Khairallah agreed. “Have fun, get a jersey, and just enjoy the game.”