The spring tryouts for the CHS Esports team has opened up this month, leaving members to begin self-assessing their skills and prepare to secure their new spots on the team for the following school year. Especially among the younger students of the Esports team is newfound motivation to continue practicing and honing their gaming skills.

 Zachary Soucy, an Academy member of the Esports team and sophomore, said he’s hoping to secure the last spot on the junior varsity team by the next school year. Academy is the lowest level of the Esports team, and its members consist mostly of underclassmen who are aspiring to join the more advanced teams in their upcoming highschool years.

“I do online (practice) for at least an hour every night,” Soucy said. “I even got up to 80 hours of gameplay a week over the summer, but obviously I can’t do that during the school year. In Academy, it’s always very individual compared to the other groups because everyone is going at it really hard to get spots they want for next year.”

Soucy also said that he was concerned about his competition for the remaining junior varsity team seats for the next school year, and has been taking measures to ensure that he gets a head start.

“I contacted a senior who was a part of the varsity team last year over Discord,” he said. “He gave me some tips on how to improve. I feel like I’m making pretty good progress, and hopefully it’s enough to get me where I want to be.”

Tyler Kern, assistant coach of the Esports team said he’s happy to see that the teams are progressing the way he expects them to.

“Now that we’re this far into the year, they know what to do,” he said. “It’s different with different teams; Academy, junior varsity, and varsity, but soon enough we’ll need kids to replace the graduating upperclassmen. It’s always good to see them stepping up.”