Prairie High School can now add a state title banner for the school's Overwatch 2 esports team, led by science teacher Simeon Redberg after the team recently took home the top prize against Selah High School.
“I think one of the reasons this team had so much success is because they’re really good at communicating,” Redberg said in a Battle Ground Public Schools news bulletin.
“After we lost the first round of the finals we were like, ‘We’ve been in this position before, we just need to focus up and take the win,” team captain Cody Sigler said in the bulletin. “We adapted and played the way we wanted to play."
Esports is a relatively new opportunity for high school students in Washington. Battle Ground Public Schools took part in an esports pilot by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, but WIAA dropped the sport this year, citing a lack of schools willing to participate, the district stated. A number of schools, however, including Prairie and Battle Ground high schools, joined the Washington State Scholastic Esports Association for this school year in order to compete statewide.
“I just love that we have this opportunity,” Redberg said in the bulletin. “Most of the kids doing esports aren’t involved in other more traditional sports."
Esports and other after-school activities throughout the district are supported by local levy funding. Learn more on the district website, battlegroundps.org/article/1971064.
