The Riordan eSports club is a collection of teams that play different video games. They are called the eCrusaders. Two teams compete in League of Legends, one team in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and one in Super Smash Bros Ultimate. All four teams made it to the playoffs. 

Moderator Cory Nelson started the eSports team, which now competes against other schools in multiple video games. 

eSports has been increasing in popularity for decades and is now a popular sport worldwide. Many colleges have eSports programs and award scholarships to players. 

“I think the future of eSports is big,” said Nelson. “Really big. I think a lot of people want to play eSports, compete and want to win scholarship money.” 

Nelson, the team’s coach, said that to join eCrusaders a student needs a Switch or gaming computer to play on and a passion for video games. The team meets every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They also compete every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. RCade Club, which started in the fall, and is the preseason. 

In their first season the League of Legends teams ended 17th and 11th in California, the Super Smash Bros team got 60th in California, and the Mario Kart team ended 15th in the Pacific region.

Julien Untalan ’24 is the captain of the Mario Kart team. Before joining the eSports team he won two school competitions and held a world record online. After getting injured in football he couldn’t play sports anymore and ended up joining eSports. 

“It enables people like me or people who aren’t really interested in physical sports to go and see what it’s like to participate in an athletic program.”