You’re about to win the last round of Fortnite for the Esports championship. Your team is cheering in the background. You jump in excitement! You won!

This could happen for a team of West Delaware students as administrators recently approved adding Esports, a gaming competition, to the activities available at West Delaware.

At the beginning of the school year, Matt Weis, assistant principal/activities director, suggested to teacher Christian Carper and Dr. Kristen Rickey that the school consider an Esports team.

Carper, who will be the Esports coach and is head of the Magic the Gathering Club, looks forward to introducing Esports at West Delaware.

“I’m excited to provide an opportunity for students to have another way to be involved with the school,” Carper said. “This is a new and exciting area that students are already involved in, but now they will be able to bring this passion to school.”

Around 25 to 30 students attended the informational meeting held in mid-September. “This is a way to involve students that may not have an extracurricular or a group to be a part of,” Carper said.

Carper feels that it will give students more motivation to be involved and to try their best at school. “When involved with school activities, behavior and academics play a part in whether they can participate,” Carper said.

Alias Underwood (11), a passionate gamer, feels that having Esports is a fantastic opportunity.

“I do like gaming (and) doing it competitively. Doing tournaments at home is also fun, but participating in this would be just as fun, if not more,” Underwood said.

Underwood also feels that having Esports as an official team will motivate students to keep up their grades and attendance. “Having the feeling of a team, you don’t want to let anyone down,” Underwood said.

West Delaware will compete against about 9 other schools in the WaMaC this spring. The games will change each season. Last season schools competed with games such as Super Smash Bros. and Overwatch.