While this has been an extremely successful year for Samohi athletics, perhaps the most exciting contests from this school year didn’t take place on a field or a court. Instead, some of Samohi’s fiercest competitors traveled to maps like Icebox and Sunset within the virtual realm, displaying awe-inspiring skill at the video game "Valorant" for the SAMO Esports team.
The squad of nine students met during Monday lunch sessions to practice their skills in the first-person point of view shooting free-for-all, then convened on Wednesday evenings in the Innovation Building computer lab to face off with other schools. Tasked with defeating the best high school teams of the Pacific time zone, the SAMO unit embraced teamwork and aptitude to take third-place in the High School esports League’s West division during 2024 spring Gold Bracket action.
"Valorant" itself is a local creation, crafted by Santa Monica-based Riot Games, who aided SAMO in its quest by donating 10 optimal gaming computers, monitors, keyboards and mice for the computer lab. Esports President Max Bernstein said the equipment is a cornerstone in expanding the Innovation lab into spaces like video production, but for now, mowing through the competition remains the goal.
"I think [esports is] really good for the school and a lot of other stuff … my experience with Esports and generally with this team is I’ve been helping manage everybody, and I’ve been trying to make sure we’re playing games on time and playing with other schools," Bernstein said. "I think it’s gonna be really good in the future, and I think [that] this has been a pretty good year."
Video games became a key bonding point for many during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Samohi’s Joshua Mahmoudiani, who told his family that he could make friends at his new school by playing games like Valorant and "Super Smash Bros."
"My cousin and I [didn’t] really talk that much, but we really only talk now because of video games," Mahmoudiani said of the value of gaming. "We played video games together and got really close over quarantine … one of my friends moved to a different country [but] we can still play video games together … so [I play] video games to still connect with people."
That connection isn’t just a social skill, it’s a necessity to make it through the best Esports players out there. During competitions where not everyone on the roster can be present in the computer lab, the team rapidly communicates through phone calls and Discord chats, and the gelling allows the squad to take down more experienced players.
"People don’t think esports is sports, [they think] we’re just playing games, but you still have to work hard and improve," Mahmoudiani said. "Valorant, for example, you can be really good, but if you don’t have good teamwork, you’ll still lose, just like all [other] sports."
SAMO Esports aims to put games on the same plane of importance as popular athletic endeavors, as the experience of competitive gaming brings true sports fervor typically reserved for professional playoff bouts.
"It’s really interesting and exciting to see," Esports advisor and Samohi language teacher Veronica Garcia-Hecht said. "I think [they] are so comfortable in there in the moment, [but] my heartbeat starts going fast [watching them] … when it says ‘sports,’ yeah, it gets your blood pressure going … hands are sweaty … you can feel it. It’s really exciting."
Garcia-Hecht signed on as advisor after seeing students tap into their interests and how the movement taps into the diversity, equity and inclusion priorities of the school.
"It gives students who would normally not have a spotlight [a chance], I think it’s important to give everybody an opportunity and a voice," she added.
thomas@smdp.com
