The high school’s eSports program returned for its spring season in February, but declining participation has left the team struggling to compete.
NyK Harris, a senior and team captain, said a shortage of players has already affected the season’s outcome. Earlier this week, the team was forced to forfeit a match when more than half of its members were unavailable.
“Yesterday or the day before was a great example,” Harris said. “We kind of had a situation where more than half our team was not able to play, which led to us having to forfeit. For any of our games to be good without a team is almost impossible because we need at least three players.”
Once offering multiple competitive teams, the program has seen a sharp decline in membership. According to Harris, only one team remains active this season.
“One as of now. Just one. Just the Splatoon team,” he said.
In previous seasons, students competed in games such as Overwatch, Fortnite, Marvel Rivals, Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Despite the variety of titles available, the loss of upperclassmen and limited recruitment of underclassmen has reduced the program to a single team.
Harris believes the decline is partly due to an overreliance on veteran players who have since graduated, leaving few experienced members to carry on the program. Scheduling conflicts may also contribute, as some competitions require strict match times that can interfere with students’ after-school commitments.
“It’s honestly because all the cool and fun people generally left last year and the year before,” Harris said. “So as time has gone on, things just dwindled down, and less and less people are willing to play.”
With only one team remaining, the future of the school’s eSports program may depend on rebuilding interest and recruiting a new generation of players.
