FLINT, Mich. (WJRT) – Hundreds of the best high school gamers in the state were in Flint Saturday to compete in the Michigan High School Esports Federation state championship.
The event, held on the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint, saw players compete in 11 different games. That includes some teams from right here in Mid-Michigan.
“There’s always that large ceiling to grow, and I’m just striving to get better,” said Daniel Haggerty.
Haggerty is the Team Captain for the team from Montrose Hill McCloy High School. He says they didn’t have the best start to the season.
The team is competing in Rainbow Six Siege, a game he says many of them weren’t familiar with at the beginning of the year.
“We were a very underwhelming team playing against the third-place team and magically, and to be fair through pretty good skill and just learning, we’ve been able to defeat them and now we have our place at the finals,” Haggerty said.
It’s been a long road for Haggerty’s team, one that has taught them skills they can take outside the game.
“When you think about when you go through life you know you’re always competing against somebody else for something. Being able to be out in the wild in-person doing that is invaluable to them,” said Dakota Vandentoorn, the President of the Michigan High School Esports Federation:
Vandentoorn says it’s not always the people you expect to see competing in esports.
“Zeeland for example, the Rainbow Six team here, I think 4 of them are football players. And these are big kids. 6’5″ 290 lbs. […] and they’re playing with kids that have never competed in a sport before,” he said.
While it’s not quite the football field, there are still some tests of endurance for those looking to be the best.
“We have waited here about 9 hours so far, so some of us are kind of tired, but we’re trying our best to you know get on, try our best, try to get this win, even if the opponent does look pretty scary right now,” Haggerty said.
发表回复