“We don’t ball, we brain.”

The E-Sports program at Mason County Central Schools is still blooming, after its start in the fall of last year.

Having the program allows MCC students to compete against other schools in the nation. Using the Nintendo Switch, they compete in Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

“It’s all done virtually,” Timothy Danielson said. “We are invited and welcome to travel to other schools if we want, but that’s one of the nice things about competitive E-Sports, you can do it all online.”

Danielson is a leader in the program and a Student Success Specialist.

“I’ve got a couple of students that struggled with attendance and grades last year that have made 180 degree turnarounds in both… We have an academic eligibility just like basketball and football,” Danielson said.

Many students inserted their two cents on the matter.

Cameron Marshall, one of the competitors said the program is an incentive to do better in school. After recieving a bad grade, he was ineligible to participate.

“Now I’m back to eligible. I’m truly glad because I find this truly fun. I’m back up to A’s and B’s,” Marshall said.

Marshall and another student, Colton Lange, both said they weren’t in any clubs prior to this.

“Our team will focus on getting their grades up so they can continue playing for the school. It’s another way to encourage kids to keep their grades up so they can have a better future,” Lange said.

It was said that this club has been the,” first piece,” of MCC that these students ever had.

“I think it’s a fun thing to do because it’s entertaining and it gives me a reason to keep my grades up… because I was failing like three classes before I joined,” Haley Frey said.

A great deal of the team shared similar testimonies. The sentiment was that they were happy to make friends with like-minded fellows.

Landon McFadden, who is not yet old enough to compete, said he is eager to join next year.

“I do play Mario Kart and I like competing with my father. So, I want to beat other people than my father because it gets boring,” McFadden said.

The team is now equipped with team jerseys, two game systems, two monitor screens, as well as several brand new video-gaming chairs and desks.

Funding was provided by the school itself, grant awards, and further fundraising has been carried out by the program itself. The students described an enjoyable time they had working at Culver’s to raise money.

“It was fun man,” Lange said.

The big news, Danielson said, is that they received an official sponsor, AndaSeat.

“They are the largest E-Sports furniture retailer in Europe… and they are sponsoring little old MCC,” Danielson said.

14 gaming chairs and four gaming desks were given, this was beyond the program’s initial request.

“It’s a $10,000 dollar investment into a high school team which to my knowledge is unheard of,” Danielson said.

There are scholarships and degrees that can be acquired due to their efforts in the program.

According to the Academic E-Sports League, one can branch into the STEM field. There are several other opportunities for these students, such as computer coding, information technology, as well as journalism.

This spring, the team will be competing at Michigan State University in the state championship games.

“Our slogan is… we don’t ball, we brain,” Danielson said.