Kentucky's High School Esports State Championships

Unimaginable to those of us who grew up on Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and, my favorite, the Nintendo 64, esports has emerged as a legitimate sport in recent years. Still, despite its soaring popularity, many people–say, for instance, KSR’s Ryan Lemond and Shannon The Dude–push back against “video games” joining the traditional sports landscape.

Esports’ critics use words like “nerdy” and “lazy” to argue against its place in sports. This stigma can be particularly difficult for young high school esports athletes who are passionate about gaming and want to pursue it as a career. You may be surprised to learn some of the numbers around esports. Some studies project as many as 300 million “viewers” (people watching other people play, not actually playing themselves) in 2024.

In Kentucky, the esports train arrived at the Kentucky High School Athletics Association in the fall of 2018 when the KHSAA introduced the new school-affiliated sport and its first-ever esports championships. At the time, KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett told WYMT, “There is always a desire to be sure you can involve a kid representing their school somehow. This was an audience that was virtually untouched.” (I would argue the audience is the most in touch virtually.)

Since the KHSAA welcomed esports athletes, the audience’s numbers have only increased with esports’ meteoric rise in the four years since. Last month, the University of Kentucky’s new state-of-the-art esports facility hosted the KHSAA’s Spring eSports Championships, with sport-sized state trophies awarded to champions in “Rocket League” (PC), “League of Legends” (PC), “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” (Nintendo Switch), “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” (Nintendo Switch) and “Madden NFL 23” (PlayStation 4). The five-tournament event was the spring state championships for the 2022-23 school calendar and the second of two annual state championships, the other being held in the fall semester.

And because KSR goes where the action is (and because we were very curious), Zack Geoghegan and I applied for media credentials to give those young athletes the sports coverage they deserve.

Here’s KSR’s video from the scene, including conversations with the competitors and Joe Angolia from the KHSAA.

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Going in, I will admit, I was a bit skeptical of esports, but after eight hours amongst ’em, as Matt Jones often says on KSR, put me down as a passionate supporter of esports. I was there for about 10 minutes before the smiles, the excitement, the energy, and, frankly, all the lovable little nerds had me hooked.

Was it as fun as going to a basketball game? No. Are they jumping in the ice tub after 40 minutes of full-contact action? No. They’re probably getting another Mountain Dew out of the fridge and then starting a new round of the same game against a kid that could be anywhere in the world.

But they also compete and passionately support their teammates just like the athletes who don’t need an internet connection to play ball. And a few of them, like Hart County’s Clark Rexroat, the KHSAA’s fall “Madden ’23” champion, will beat you in the real thing, too. When he’s not with his esports teammates, he stars as a wide receiver and in the backfield for Hart County’s football team, in addition to his responsibilities in the backcourt for the basketball team or holding serve for Hart County tennis.

A multi-sport talent and gamer, Rexroat can speak to high school esports as well as anyone. He told KSR, “It’s nice because it gives some kids that don’t necessarily fit into the categories of football or basketball, some sort of sense of involvement to represent their school.”

Here are the champions who represented their respective schools all the way to the awards presentation.

KHSAA Spring 2023 Esports State Champions

Rocket League
State Champion: Franklin County H.S.
Runner-up: Henry Clay H.S.

League of Legends
State Champion: Thomas Nelson H.S.
Runner-up: Bowling Green H.S.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
State Champion: Belfry H.S.
Runner-up: Shelby County H.S.

The state Mario Kart trophy is going home to Belfry pic.twitter.com/NLTkCHrcoJ

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) April 26, 2023

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
State Champion: duPont Manual H.S.
Runner-up: Trinity H.S.

Madden NFL
State Champion: Trenton Pigg, Great Crossing H.S.
Runner-up: Timothy Epling, Belfry H.S.

Your KHSAA State @EAMaddenNFL Champion is Trenton Pigg from Great Crossing pic.twitter.com/6lSlptGeAG

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) April 26, 2023

Learn more about the fast-growing sport and its competitive format within Kentucky high school athletics over at the KHSAA’s esports website.