Playing video games is not what it used to be. Today people make careers out of competing, designing, and streaming video game play. The new “field of play” is online and schools across the country are jumping on board.

Owasso High School’s e-sports team is coached by James Paschal and the team will compete against other schools like Jenks, Moore, and others. One of the young players on the team is turning heads and making a name for himself. Alexis Rosas is only a freshman, but he is already considered one of the top players in the state. Rosas said he first heard about the e- sports program while in junior high.

“I heard about it around the last couple of weeks of 8th grade when our teacher was talking about high school electives, and I was excited immediately. I thought I could use this as an opportunity to get better and make some friends,” said Rosas.

As a member of the team Rosas competes in SSBU (Super Smash Brothers Ultimate), but it’s not the only game he plays.
“Other than Smash Bros, I sometimes play Fortnite or Call of Duty occasionally, but I just play casually since I’m not the best at those games,” said Rosas.

Gamers are competitors. The same drive that pushes a football or baseball player drives these kids and tournaments are their opportunity to put it all on the line and represent their school.

“What I’ve enjoyed the most has been going to tournaments and competing against other schools and seeing what I would have to practice on my gameplay. Even if I don’t get the best results, I’m still glad I got the opportunity to compete with others and make friends,” said Rosas.

One of his favorite memories while competing this season came during a tournament with the team competing with a character in the game they do not normally compete with, but despite the adversity they still came away fifth out of 59 participants.

Roses said he hopes the school continues to support the e-sports team and hopes his peers support them as well. As for his future? The freshman is already looking ahead to college and beyond.

“I don’t think enough people are thinking about e-sports enough, since I’m just a freshman and already so skilled, I think I could earn a scholarship in the next three years,” said Rosas.
“If I’m able to take this game seriously, I could be doing this as a hobby or get an ordinary job and buy enough equipment to start streaming and play with friends.”