(Media release from Rome City Schools, GA):
“Bro. You’ve got to start upping your game if we’re going to make the playoffs.”
The words come out fast and furious and could probably be found at any typical Rome High sporting event. On Wednesday afternoon, these Rome athletes found themselves about as far away from a typical athletic playing as possible inside an Engineering classroom at Rome High’s College and Career Academy.
Instead of wearing typical uniforms and taking to a field or court, most of Rome High’s esports athletes wore hoodies and grabbed controllers sitting a few feet away from monitors taking turns competing against schools from across the state in Super Smash Brothers.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, this is the Rome High School esports team, and they compete multiple times a week in the GHSA-sanctioned sport with the ultimate goal of holding aloft a shiny silver state championship trophy.
“We have four Super Smash Brothers teams essentially. Three are playing varsity and one is playing junior varsity. They are all pretty competitive,” Scott Hansen, Rome High’s Esports Coach says.
The team, in its fifth year of existence, competes in the Georgia High School Association’s esports league against other schools from Class 5A, 6A and 7A. As Hansen says, the Wolves have three squads that compete at the varsity level in Super Smash Brothers and those teams have individual team names.
Those team names for Super Smash Brothers are The Direwolves, Cloud Mains Only, The ADDers and The Wolf Brothers.
Each of those squads hopes to finish in the top 64 teams to reach the state playoffs. As for game days, the squads meet in the engineering classroom after school and gather around a group of monitors to watch, strategize, play and cheer their teammates on. There are no true away matches as all the action is handled by the esports league, so the athletes all compete in the friendly confines of the CCA.
On this day, three of the four Rome squads grabbed wins against their opponents. Rome’s teams faced off against a squad from Grovetown, North Paulding, Veterans and Rockdale County.
“The matchmaking system takes care of all the games and who we play. They get a scheduled match. Each team plays a different school from around the state. We compete in the classification that combines Class 5A through 7A and it’s a pool of about 200 different teams,” Hansen says. “Each team is operating individually. We have three teams in the top 64 right now. Hopefully, if they can keep those positions, they can go to the playoffs. The playoffs consist of the top 64 teams.”
Just like any team, the players practice a good bit and even have some sanctioned scrimmages.
“They play a ton. Typically each team we have runs their own practice day,” Hansen says. “There are also scrimmages where they get to play against other teams.”
When it comes to team dynamics, Hansen helps out and weighs in, but he also lets the team captains play a big role for the squads.
“I’m moderately knowledgeable about the games, so I can help out the new players, but we are running team captains so they can help run the practices with their team members to come up with strategies. They come up with team compositions that are hopefully going to be competitive. I tend to rely on students who are more skilled than I am to mentor their teammates,” Hansen says. “For some of the players, I know they are so beyond me in skill that I support them, but I doubt I can really help them too much. Some of the younger players I can definitely work with and give them tips on getting better.”
As the matches continue the advice and support can be heard throughout the room. Oftentimes, the advice or comments start with a simple, “Bro”.
“Bro. All he did was counter me the whole time,” one athlete laments after dropping a close match.
Within seconds three different teammates all give him some pointers on ways to handle the foe. Hansen stands in the background, moving from monitor to monitor. He points out a thing or two as he watches. The whole time, his face is a model of concentration taking in what he sees and offering some tips when needed.
Along with the fun of coaching, Hansen says he enjoys seeing the kids get to compete at something they all love.
“It’s fantastic that these kids get to actually compete for Rome High. This kind of thing didn’t exist when I was in high school. It’s nice to bring the community that comes with esports into the schools so that we can incorporate that as part of the school’s competition,” Hansen says. “A lot of kids who don’t really have school communities outside of the esports program get involved in our program and that’s fantastic.”
The athletes get to enjoy good community and good fun but also get to compete for a shot at a state title as well.
“Typically we get a couple of teams to the playoffs. It gets pretty competitive once you hit the playoffs given the player pools in the state,” Hansen says. “Our teams have made it through to the quarterfinals before, so we are a pretty good group of competitors.”
The state playoffs for Super Smash Brothers are set to begin on Monday, April 15. The first four rounds are all done on campus with the final four in all esports taking place at the University of West Georgia on May 1.
As one of the varsity teams finishes its match with a victory, another team from across the room realizes they’ve won. It’s a junior varsity squad and it’s one of their first wins of the season. Hansen smiles as do the players and then talks over what went right and wrong with the match.
And as the matches wind down, more than a few players remind their coach that he has promised them pizza at some time in the near future.
Coach Scott Hansen watching his players compete on Wednesday, March 20.