South High sports are taking a turn into broader areas, part of this new turn being Esports. 

Business teacher John Heath, and social studies teacher Drew Jennings, have been planning an Esports team for the school. 

There is an “elite group of four students who are involved in an Esports Rocket League team for Parkway South,” said Jennings, one of the teachers involved in the push of an Esports team for the school.

Those four students include: Junior Micky Sheridan, junior Eric Polach, senior Nate Barton, and junior Sameer Power. These four students are all in a Rocket League team together, and the plan will be to compete with other schools in an Esports-style gaming event. 

Both teachers involved in the league, as well as students, both agree that Sheridan was the spark for the Esports team at South. Sheridan said, “I have been competitively gaming for over five years, and will only continue from here.” He is hoping to add more games to the team, such as 2K, Madden, NHL, Super Smash Brothers and more. 

Another student competing in the team is senior Nate Barton, who has also been competing in gaming for a while now. Barton’s favorite game to play in his free time and competitively is Rocket League. When asked what his best strengths are in the game, Barton responded, “just operating the mechanics.”

“The goal is to get the ball rolling, with these four guys, and then hopefully be able to expand the group to other leagues and add in more people,” Barton said.

Jennings also said he wants to incorporate more games, and add in more leagues, which allows for more options in Esports for students. “It’s all the rage these days, with tons of high schools getting into it, as well as South High students wanting to be a part of it,” Jennings said. 

Becoming familiar with Esports is a new subject for some people, but the sport is taking over schools. Currently more than 10 schools in St. Louis County already competes in the sport, including Marquette, Brentwood, Francis Howell Central, and CBC. 

Sheridan is pushing to add more games to the team, as well as more people. He stated that he’s been networking to get the teams name out in the public, such as posting on social media for it, as well as trying to get MOSEF, the organization that runs Esports to add more games to be played at our school. 

Everyone keeps an eye out for the Parkway South Esports team, as they are rising in the competitive ranks in our school. If you are interested in joining the team, reach out to any of the names mentioned, or contact any of the accounts linked with them on social media.