Esports Updates

GM Jamie Odum Thompson: jodum@west-fargo.k12.nd.us

Asst. GM/Coach Aaron Beseler: abeseler@hotmail.com

We were blown away by the turn out last night. Thank you to everyone that showed up to learn about this program and allow Beseler and I to share our passion for esports with you. We will start the season on Tuesday, September 15, afterschool, in 116G at WFHS. The shuttle will be available again this year for all schools and usually arrives at WFHS around 4:15pm. It will cover both the middle and high schools in its pick-up route. Kids should be boarding bus 71. The main office or activities office will also have more information. Those that can drive themselves, please park in the main lot with the arch in the front for access to the building. If you arrive before the final bell for the day, you will need to wait in the office or check-in and report to me in room 122G. This needs to be cleared with the office beforehand.

We will be figuring out team dynamics for the next several weeks, so the tryout season/dates will be so we can see where their skill level is, followed by us assigning teams for individuals we feel would work best as a team and have room to grow together. Students need to come in with the mindset that we are setting them up for success. We may need to balance teams based on game knowledge AND communication in-game. Our teams thrive the most when the communication is clear and the group is willing to work on both their strengths and weaknesses. Everyone needs to be open to being coachable. We will take into account player requests concerning team make-up for some titles, but all final decisions will be made by us.

With the program dynamics growing and changing, we have made the decision to allow seventh and eighth graders to participate in esports, as long as they are at least 13 years old, by October 31. If your current player has a younger sibling that meets that criteria, they can also play for the program. Moving forward, for future years, we will be allowing grades 7-12, with the same age restrictions. All new, future teams will fall under one of three groupings: Sheyenne (with Liberty), Horace (with Heritage), and West Fargo (with Cheney). This will not impact the current players on our roster; they will still get the chance to play with their teammates from prior years under the West Fargo banner through a grandfathering system. We're happy to explain this further if you would like more detailed information.

Discord is our primary form of communication for the team. It is also where our teams use voice chat for online practices, coaching, and remote competition. We have an established, private Discord server that is locked down and only contains individuals that have an esports-related reason to be there. We ensure the server remains a safe online space for our team. Use of a Discord account, and participation/responding in the server, is a requirement of being on the esports team. If parents have any questions about Discord, please contact Coach Beseler and he will be happy to clarify any concerns or help guide parents/players through setup.

Please be sure you are registering correctly in Arbiter under the winter esports season. Middle school parents, you may not be able to see an option for your school yet. We are working to get that resolved as soon as possible. Players will still be able to register in Fenworks once we invite them to the platform. Videos on how to link your account and queue into your matches can be found further down below. If you are new, please be sure to review these processes prior to preseason.

We do request all payments and registration for the season in Arbiter is done by October 5 (middle school deadlines will be adjusted accordingly if there is a delay in Arbiter registration).

Sheyenne: https://shs.web.west-fargo.k12.nd.us/programs/activities/clubs-organizations

Heritage: https://hms.web.west-fargo.k12.nd.us/programs/activities/clubs-organizations

Once we have more information on registration for the middle schools, we will share that out in a future update.

This is the platform being utilized by the district. You can register and pay straight through the app. If you are needing a waiver for the activity fee, please be sure you are connecting with your activities office to get the form and information to complete it. You do not need to complete a physical to participate in esports, this is primarily to help us keep our enrollment organized and for emergency contacts in the event something were to happen. Every player must be enrolled in Arbiter. As a payment alternative, you may bring in cash or a check made out to West Fargo Public Schools to cover those fees. Fees need to be paid unless accommodations have been arranged. Permission slips will also need to be turned in. Players must have parent/guardian permission to play first person shooter (fps) at the school. Please contact Odum if you need it emailed to you or if you would prefer a hard copy and did not receive one at the meeting.

As our program continues to grow, we would also like to start reaching out to more potential donors or sponsors to help in replacing parts or whole units for our computers that have seen better days. We have 15 gaming pcs in our lab that are reaching a seven-year existence. We've been operating with a hope a prayer that they can keep hanging on as our technology and games continue to get more advanced. If you know anyone that would love to support our program, we would be grateful to start building and extending that support in our community. We'd love to see this program continue to grow and provide more positive experiences for our kids and our community.

Reminders

Again, we want to emphasize, this program is a commitment and players need to practice together and be ready for their scheduled game and coaching time(s). Beseler and I need communication to know who is ready to go when queues start so we can verify that everyone is getting into their matches.

All players must be reporting to their match 15 minutes prior to start time and captains will need to confirm their team is checked in.

Parents and players, please be sure you are getting registered in Arbiter for the esports winter season. The activity fee for the spring season is $100. If you have a waiver in place, that will carry over to spring for payment, but we ask that you still register in Arbiter. Those who had a waiver last year will need to renew it with the activities office.

Games and Times:

Monday

5:00 PM CT

Super Smash 1v1* (Time Slot A)

Mario Kart 2v2* (Time Slot A)

6:00 PM CT

Minecraft 4v4

League of Legends 5v5

Tuesday

4:00 PM CT

Super Smash 1v1* (Time Slot B)

Mario Kart 2v2* (Time Slot B)

5:00 PM CT

Marvel Rivals

Chess 1v1* (Time Slot A)

Wednesday

No Matches: Scrimmage Day

Thursday

5:00 PM CT

Rocket League

Chess (Time Slot B)

6:00 PM CT

Valorant

Players, be sure you are reading over the rules for each title and how it will be played in the winter. The dynamics may have been adjusted over the summer.

If you ordered a hoodie or additions last year, please bring in payments to get everything squared away on the obligations side. Hoodie and badge logo only = $40; Hoodie, badge logo, and name on back $45; Hoodie, badge logo, name on back, and game title icons = $50. We will make announcements when we are taking orders for new hoodies, but there will be limited options available in the store that will host our fundraising starting October 22.

Overall season calendar. Calendars per title will be released once all coaching hours are scheduled.

We'll be verifying inventory on tech soon and remove obligations that were not updated at the end of the spring season. Inquiring about obligations can be sent to Odum.

1. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate tournament at Concordia in the Park Region building from 1pm-5pm on Saturday, September 12. Expectation is for everyone to be kind and polite so we can keep working with Concordia in the future and attend more events. This is a get-there-on-your-own event. It is optional, but also a good opportunity to play against local players.
2. We will be allowing students in the lab starting September 15. We will run tryouts/practices on Tuesdays and Thursday up until preseason.
3. Mayville State will be talking to players September 29 at 4:30/4:45pm. This is open to both players and parents to attend. We will continue practice following their presentation.
4. Concessions October 13 (Girls Volleyball, need 5-6 people) and October 16 (Football, need 12-15 people); Please let us know if you're able to help out. Both parents and students can get involved!
5. Our Fundraiser partner will be in October 22. Please have email addresses and phone numbers gathered before then.
6. Registration opens September 28 and closes October 28 - Players must be entered in the Fenworks season during this time. They will also need to link their accounts.
7. Winter Break Party will be tentatively set for Tuesday, December 22 afterschool. This will likely run later than normal practices.
8. Fenworks State Tournament will be February 26 and 27 at UND. Parents and spectators are welcome to attend.

As a reminder, teams and individuals must participate in seven of eight of their scheduled matches. If you miss more than one, you will not qualify for state. At this stage in the season, we can expect games every week as inactive teams drop out or are removed from the rotations. Please be sure you are following the attendance policy below if you know you'll be out so we have a full team for each match.

Please be sure you are getting registered in Arbiter and are getting your activity fees paid. If you are on a free/reduced meal plan, you will need to fill out a waiver from the activities office. This needs to be done ASAP. There is an option for the spring season if you wish to register early. The spring league is a more casual format with no travel. It provides a way for players to stay connected for the last few months of the school year and a chance for new players to check out the program with less stress on play performance. The titles will likely change a bit since the club league usually is a better fit for experimenting with new titles.

Expectations reminders below for Absences and Communication

As a reminder, players, there is an absence channel on Discord to communicate when you will be gone. We ask for at least 3 days notice, unless you are sick, if you are going to be missing a match. This will inform captains and coaches of the need for a sub and allow subs time to get a few games in with the team before the scheduled match. As long as we have dates and times, we are set. Coach Beseler or I will connect with you directly if we need more information on the absence. Games that need to be rescheduled for the week need to be played before the currently scheduled match. We want to do everything we can to stick to the set times but understand there will be a lot going on this winter with concerts and other commitments.

If you have time conflicts, with other activities, and are unsure of how to best handle it, speak to one of us. We will be happy to help you figure out a balance.

If communication expectations are not met, this will result in consequences, such as being benched for the next match. We are a sport like any other traditional one and we have teammates that rely on all their teammates showing up. We cannot be scrambling for subs every week. Time in the program needs to be invested equally despite being at home or in-person. This is required time for the teams to get together, review previous matches, and work on their goals. Games that are moved to remote also have the same expectations. Players should be warming up before the match, in the Voice Channel on Discord with their team, and take a minimum of 30 minutes to warm up.

We love to have our community members support our players. We are always humbled by the generosity of our community, so please keep us posted if you or your business would like to sponsor the program of if you would just like to get involved.

If anyone knows of a potential sponsor fit for the program, we'd be more than happy to connect and see what else we can do for our players.

Below are the tutorials on how to get into the different match systems. Minecraft will have its own server, and Chess, Mario Kart, and Smash Bros will be using the queue system. Players, please be sure to review your checking in and connecting to opponent process before matches.

Fenworks has information available on what will be required for the setup of each title, and the rules players must abide by. Please review this information and refer back to it when setting up your matches. The rules have also been posted in our team discord for each title.

Our five PC gaming titles have varying degrees of technical, hardware requirements. In general, most systems specified as "gaming PCs" when advertised or shown in stores will meet the requirements to at least play the games, albeit some at lower settings or not as smoothly as others. A large part of the balance in determining what to go with is determined by availability of systems and the price your family is comfortable spending. To address a simple aspect of the pricing question, one of the easiest ideas to help consider is how long the system has the potential to be relevant and useful when finding that balance of cost. Another factor is whether your player plans to do things like video editing or streaming in addition to gaming.

We had previously compiled some listings of options in different price ranges. However, the harsh reality of PC (and PC component) purchasing right now is that costs have been driven up (sometimes considerably) for certain components and parts as a result of the building and expansion of AI data centers across the world. As such, we have removed the listing for now.

However, Beseler is happy to communicate and work with any families or players who are interested in getting a new gaming PC, both to help assess the best options for the needs of the player and to look at where this often-fluctuating balance of available products stands at that time.

As far as vendors of both component parts and prebuilt systems, Newegg, Amazon, and Dell/Alienware will be online retailers. While Best Buy, Costco, Wal-Mart/Sam's Club, and Micro Center all have physical locations, they also have online, shipped purchasing options for PCs. We can't speak to what stock these retailers would have in the physical stores.

As some general information, the decision on whether to get a laptop or desktop is one of personal preference and logistical details for students and parents. Laptops offer portable flexibility, a smaller physical footprint for space needed, and convenience. Desktops will generally provide a more powerful system for the same price as well as generally-recognized longevity benefits in comparison to laptops. In either situation, having a good gaming monitor is required for a desktop PC. If your player uses a laptop, an external monitor is still an option, if you choose.

A plethora of monitor options exist, but the three primary details to look at, when looking for one, are the size, refresh rate, and response time. A 24" or 25" size is recommended; it offers comfortable gaming and viewing at a distance of 2'-3', which is the common distance. We do not recommend any monitor size larger, as it will be too large at normal gaming distance. However, if you do choose to go larger, please ensure your setup allows for adequate distance from the screen. While many larger gaming monitors will have 1440p (2560x1440) resolution, the 24" recommended size should come standard as a 1080p (1920x1080) resolution. Refresh rate and response time are very important for a good gaming experience, as they directly impact the clarity, smoothness, and rendering of the picture and motion. You should look for a screen that has a refresh rate of 120Hz or higher (144Hz is a very common gaming monitor refresh rate), with a response time of 1 ms or less. There are many gaming monitors meeting those qualifications that will be under $150.

Feel free to reach out to Coach Beseler by e-mail, as well. You will find his e-mail address listed below, in the Contact and Location section.

General Manager Jamie Odum Thompson

Assistant General Manager Aaron Beseler

Email: jodum@west-fargo.k12.nd.us or abeseler@hotmail.com
Website: https://wfhs.web.west-fargo.k12.nd.us/programs/activities/clubs-organizations
Location: West Fargo High School Room 116G