Osbourn High School has had an Esports team for around 2 years now. In that time they have had a lot of matches and in fact have recently reached State Semi-Finalist level for both Rocket League and Super Smash Bros at the same time. For their Smash team this is practically normal for them because they had reached this level numerous times although for their Rocket League team this is a special moment as they don’t reach this level nearly as much as their Smash team.
The coaches for these teams are Coach Edwards and Coach Hayes. Being able to manage all of these teams must be a tall order so just how did they do it? I was able to get a hold of Coach Edwards and a player for their Smash team and discuss how they were able to reach such an important position in the Esports scene.
What even is the story of Coach Edwards? When did he and why did he become a coach in the first place? “I was originally gonna coach volleyball because I didn’t know Esports was an option. And it wasn’t until 2022 or my second year teaching that Ms Hayes reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to start a team with her. At first, I was just gonna work with her behind the scenes setting stuff up but when I started I couldn’t help but become more involved than I intended,” said Edwards.
When Edwards was asked how he was able to help manage all the many players he said as follows “Coach Hayes and I rotate with each other. We have 4 different teams in total, we have 2 Super Smash Bros teams and 2 Rocket League teams. We’d spread out in the room and observe them while frequently trading off with each other because of how many people we have.”
Since the Esports team has already reached State Semi-Finalist level what are the odds they can go above that? “If we won states we’d go to nationals. Realistically speaking our Smash roster has the highest chance of winning it. Because two of our players have some interesting play styles that could make us the underdog because the styles are rather unknown nationwide compared to statewide where opposing rosters know about it and plan against it,” Coach Edwards said.
The Esports scene at Osbourn High School was also talked about and there were only good things that Edwards had to say about it. Coach Edwards was really happy about his community and really showed his passion when he said “I’ve been extremely proud of the community I’ve helped raise. Our “Scene” started to grow slowly when we first started the team a while ago but this year we’ve grown a lot in terms of people and the comradery between them. What I love most though is the kind of rivalry some of our players have. I find that certain freshmen have been competing with each other a lot and some have even tried to go against our upperclassmen. Which definitely ends up with them learning a lesson.”
If any of these quotes make you want to join the team or try out for it Coach Edwards has some words for you “For people that wanna join, the best parts are the healthy competition we have and the mindset we end up giving to our players. Like we teach our players that losing isn’t the worst thing and more stuff about it like how you learn more from losing than you do winning.”
If anyone is kind of unsure if they should join Coach Edwards also said “I think people should join our team if they find that they are winning too much in their casual friend group or family and seek a greater challenge. It’s also a good idea to join us if you wanna find friendships you wouldn’t normally have.”
Sometimes a coach’s words can hold some type of bias because it’s their work and they want it to think it’s good. So a player on their team will probably have more credible quotes. Super Smash Bros player Thomas Roberts actually had extremely good things to say about the Team. So Coach Edwards isn’t sugarcoating it.
For some background, Thomas explained the reasons why he wanted to join the club in the first place and it kind of lines up with what Edwards said about looking for people that are competitive or people that want to get better “#1 I like to compete against other sports and games that a lot of people have been playing for like decades, #2 I like the community of players that come together to compete against one another. #3 I like the opportunity to compete against schools all around the state.”
Thomas was rather surprised that both teams were able to reach such a high level at the same time, this is reinforced when he said “I would say it was a given the Smash team was gonna reach that level but I wasn’t expecting the Rocket League team was also gonna reach it at the same exact time.”
To get such a high ranking in the Smash team it was difficult for Thomas and this was reaffirmed twice by him. First when he said, “Currently our Smash team is pretty high in the rankings for the state and in order to get there we had to have a completely undefeated season and beat some of the other best teams which was difficult.”
Second, Roberts talked more about the game itself and the characters in it “I think Smash Bros in particular is a game that has a constantly changing meta. The reason being is that there are 60 different characters you can play with each with their own different moves that are completely you need to adapt to.”
On top of everything it has been expressed that Thomas thinks highly of the community of the Super Smash Bros scene and team “I think the Esports community is a lot more friendly than most other VHSL (Virginia High School League) sports” for the team he has had an amazing experience “I would say when I first joined the team I didn’t really know the other players there but over the span of the last two years they have grown in my life and some of them have become my best friends.”
He even thinks other people should join the team too. “I would encourage anyone who has a passion for video games to join the team because you’ll have the opportunity to meet a lot of new people who are interested in the same game as you. You will also have the opportunity to help represent your school and be a part of something bigger than yourself,” said Thomas Roberts.
Overall the reason why the Osbourn High School Esports teams were able to make it to State Semi-Finalist is not only because of how skilled the players are but also because of how motivated and encouraged the players feel to get better. But the Esports team isn’t only just a team. It is a community that strives to get better not only at the games they play but also to be better people. Both Thomas Roberts and Coach Edwards demonstrate this really well. Hopefully, the next time they play for #1 in the state they prove themselves to be so or even better.
