On the weekend of March 1, the Edina High School Esports team took to St. Cloud State University to compete in the Minnesota Varsity League (MNVL) Winter 2025 State Finals. Each high school competing in the MNVL assembles different teams of students to compete in each game. This year, one of Edina’s League of Legends, Minecraft, and Valorant teams each placed third in the state finals. This was the second time the team has been to state since its inception in the fall of 2023 by founding member senior Carson Edam and EHS math teacher Jared Thompson. Last year, Edina won state for the popular vehicular soccer game Rocket League.
“[Mr. Thompson] overheard me talking about League of Legends to a friend in the halls and he asked if I had a team and I said ‘No, we don’t,’” Edam said. “And then I thought about it and I emailed him if he wanted to start it and he said that he would give it a try and I’m so glad he did.”
Members of the Esports team are not bound to one singular video game team, as matches during the regular season have different meeting times. There can even be multiple teams for one video game, depending on the number of people needed to form one team. For the popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) League of Legends, matches occur Tuesdays weekly at 4:30 p.m. from November to February with the 5-player teams with qualifying records advancing to state.
During the regular season, each Edina team for a specific game will play on private online servers against other Minnesota high schools. Any school can register a team through the Minnesota Varsity League as long as they have enough players for one game and a teacher sponsor.
“This year, Mr. Thompson and I really honed in on getting connections with teams because we noticed outside of the meeting days and the matches [the teams] weren’t really talking to each other,” Edam said. “So when we got the teams situated we [had them] create a specified practice day once a week.”
The flexibility of the Esports team comes in how easy it is to practice, regardless of the player’s initial skill level. Many team members find that they have little to no trouble balancing practicing each game with their day-to-day school, work, and other extracurricular schedules since they’ve been playing video games for most of their life.
“I’ve played Rocket League since I was nine years old, so I’m so used to it that it just feels competitive to me,” sophomore Milo Collings said, who was on the team that won state for Rocket League last year in addition to playing for the Mario Kart team.
To practice, members of the Esports team used their at-home computer or console set-ups to connect with teammates and play online matches from home. Practices functioned this way until January, when the team got computers set up in the Project Lead the Way computer lab to start practicing in the same room at school together. This new setup is better for improving both team morale and network latency-issues, especially for input-heavy games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
“Once you get to a certain level, you start to notice that playing offline is a lot different than playing online, because online there’s input delay,” sophomore Asher Kaufman said, who plays Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. “So playing [Super Smash Bros. Ultimate] offline [at the tournament] was a good experience for me to play offline at a competitive level so I’ll be taking that experience with me.”
The addition of the at-school computers is just the start for the team, as they hope to get consoles for the players that use PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switches to play their games at school. “Mr. Thompson has said the end goal is for people to be able to play their matches at school in the computer lab, but that’s probably not gonna be for a couple of years,” Kaufman said.
At St. Cloud State University, all the gameplay was offline through local servers set up on computers and consoles set up by the league. Matches took place in one of the university’s ballrooms. “Once you’re in that environment and used to [playing] in a room with all gamers and everyone’s yelling, you get used to that competitiveness,” Collings said.
Additionally, the weekend gave the team a chance to connect with other Minnesotan teams. “I’ve met a ton of friends through Esports, so it’s nice getting to see them and hang out with them in person, rather than online. I think [what separates Esports from other activities] is definitely just the community,” Kaufman said.
“It’s so fun seeing how many people are there even though there’s a lot [of teams] cut out. [The matches] are fun to watch because [the other teams] are all really good,” Edam said. “There’s no one that’s in a bad mood because everyone’s just so excited to be there.”
