It takes all types of people to crush enemies' bases of operation - and to learn communication and team skills in battle along the way.
Leah Johnson said it's "important for kids who aren't the typical athlete" to still have a group activity to learn such skills. She's an accounting and business teacher in her second year at Jefferson City High School, and she started an e-sports club with students at the school this year.
Johnson said the JCHS e-sports club is a recreational video game club, but within it, there are 12 members who compete against Columbia's high schools - Hickman, Rockbridge, Douglass and Battle - in League of Legends gameplay, for which they also wear jerseys.
League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game. The gist of it is to form a balanced team of five characters in order to successfully conquer another team's nexus - their home base.
Atul Krishnadas, a JCHS sophomore, described the characters as "different weapons you can use in battle."
Each character has unique strengths and weaknesses, and Johnson said it takes research to figure out what the best team combinations will be.
There are hundreds of characters to choose from - including Anivia the Cryophoenix, Fizz the Tidal Trickster, Renekton the Butcher of the Sands, Xin Zhao the Seneschal of Demacia and Riven the Exile.
The competitive season this year is nine weeks long, from mid-March to mid-May, and in-person matches are hosted at Ukatsu in Columbia, the organization that sponsors the competitions - "the first ever (live production) e-sports league for high school students in the United States," according to an informational flier from Johnson.
"As gamers ourselves, we know of all the good that can come from playing and competing. Our mission is to encourage the positive problem solving and social interaction that comes from being a part of the gaming community. We preach balance between gaming, relationships, physical activity and personal development and how parents can get on board," Ukatsu describes itself on its website.
"There's a lot of different types of people here," Ryan Wilkinson, a JCHS sophomore, said of the club that includes debate team members and athletes - Krishnadas is a Jay tennis team member.
Johnson said this is the first time she's started a club like this. She plays World of Warcraft herself, not League of Legends, but she wanted to give students an opportunity to be involved on a team.
She said about 40 students a week play recreationally in the club after school between Mondays and Wednesdays. The students on the competitive League of Legends team also have a coach from the University of Missouri, Evan Rowland, who's a senior biochemistry student.
Students on the competitive team need at least a B-grade point average of 2.7 by each Friday of the season in order to be eligible to compete in the following week's match at Ukatsu, and must also make practice and scrimmage times.
The team is scheduled to play at 6 p.m. tonight against Hickman. An all-star game at 3 p.m. Saturday will feature team members Cameron Day and Chase Ruiz - both sophomores - playing on a combined team with Rock Bridge against another combined team of Hickman and Battle players.
The high school players on Saturday will compete between the semifinals and championship rounds of the Midwest Campus Clash and Gaming Expo - a collegiate League of Legends tournament with a $25,000 prize pool, according to a news release.
The University of Kansas and MU are scheduled to face off in a "border battle" in the third round at 10:15 a.m.