BLAIR, NEBRASKA (2024 December 11, Wednesday)
Don Harrold, Writer / Editor
blairtoday@mail.com – Facebook

In a state where football traditionally dominates school athletics, a different kind of competition is taking root in Fort Calhoun High School. The story of how competitive gaming found its place in this Nebraska school begins with computer science teacher Bo Hansen, who saw an opportunity to create something new.

“I was talking to our tech director halfway through my first year,” Hansen recalls. “I had played video games my whole life, and I knew of the Nebraska Schools Esports Association. We started talking about it, asking ‘Can we do this? Can we get it going?’”

That initial conversation led to action in spring 2023. “I knew we had the equipment, we had a (Nintendo) Switch, I had a couple games we wanted to play,” Hansen says. “I started having kids show up and saying, ‘If you’re interested, let’s play; this is going to happen.’”

The program quickly established a routine, with regular Tuesday practices that Hansen describes as similar to other sports’ preparation sessions. “It’s basically having kids get together and play, and especially for competitions’ sake, start to see who’s the best. We have mini tournaments, like cross-country track teams that have runoffs. These are kind of just runoffs for who’s going to be on the varsity team that week.”

In just two years, Fort Calhoun has become a competitive force in Super Smash Bros. The team secured fourth place at the 2023 state championships at Wayne State College before improving to third place in 2024 at Midland University in Fremont.

For Hansen, the program’s impact extends far beyond competitive success. “Some kids actually have a physical ailment that precludes them from being in sports, so it’s an avenue for those kids to be able to compete in something, be with their peers, have a sense of pride in something that they’re doing for themselves and the school,” he explains. “For other kids, it’s not that they couldn’t compete – sports are just not their forte. Maybe they’re not great at running, jumping, throwing, but they are really good at video games.”

The team’s achievements rest largely on the shoulders of two dedicated competitors, Hawthorne Roehr and Trevor DeVries. “They’ve played this game their whole life,” Hansen notes, adding that both players have invested over 1,000 hours in mastering Super Smash Bros.

The social impact of the program has been particularly meaningful. “The ones that are playing a lot, coming to practice, they’re closer now,” Hansen observes. “They sit together at lunch, they congregate together at the start of the day. For some of these kids who might have been more loner or not had as many groups to fit into, this has given them a very defined group. They can say, ‘I am part of this, this is something I can do, the school is celebrating this.’”

The program has touched parents as well. “I had one parent after state the first year who said, ‘I honestly didn’t ever think I would see my kid and Fort Calhoun makes it to state in the same sentence,’” Hansen shares. “Even as you extend to the parents and the bigger community, they appreciate it.”

Operating within the Nebraska Schools Esports Association (NSESA), which has grown from 13 schools in 2019 to over 100 schools today, Fort Calhoun competes in a structured environment. While some schools participate in up to five different games, Hansen has chosen to focus primarily on Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart. “Because we’re not a really big school and it’s just me and Maverick (Harrold, Piano Accompanist, PARA-Professional, SPED) when he can help, I’ve trimmed it to two at a time,” he explains. “More than that would be hard to manage and schedule and actually get kids put in spots that would help us be as good as we can be.”

Looking ahead, Hansen sees both opportunities and challenges. There’s ongoing discussion about esports’ place within school activities. “The growing debate is how esports should be treated within the school sphere,” he explains. “One side thinks since it’s called esports, we should be treated just like the football team, the basketball team – get jerseys, get the funding that any other traditional sport team would get. The other side says because there are enough differences, it should be more treated like vocal, like band, like speech, like one act – more of a fine art extracurricular.”

Regardless of these administrative questions, Hansen remains focused on the program’s impact on students. “It’s been cool just to watch them actually have something that they’re being celebrated for,” he says. “Last week, teachers were congratulating them in the hallway. This is all something that had no existence in this building before.”

As esports continues to grow nationwide, with colleges now offering millions in scholarships and professional gaming careers becoming increasingly viable, Fort Calhoun’s program stands as an example of how competitive gaming can enrich school communities and create new pathways for student success.

Nebraska’s Growing Esports Scene

While Fort Calhoun builds its program, they’re part of a larger movement transforming Nebraska high school athletics. Since the Nebraska Schools Esports Association (NSESA) became an official nonprofit in 2019, the organization has grown from 13 founding schools to over 100 schools statewide, impacting more than 2,500 students in grades 7-12.

The growth spans schools of all sizes. At Omaha Central, where the esports program recently earned national recognition in USA Today’s top 25 rankings, coach John Franta has seen the life-changing impact of competitive gaming. “Several of our players have earned college scholarships,” Franta notes, “which literally changed the course of their life because they didn’t qualify for any other scholarships.”

This rapid expansion of collegiate opportunities – with nearly 200 colleges now offering esports scholarships nationwide – has helped legitimize competitive gaming in the eyes of parents and administrators. At Gretna High School, one of Nebraska’s early adopters, computer science teacher Kimberly Ingraham-Beck has watched her program grow to include about 150 students, roughly 10 percent of the student body. “It’s more popular than I ever would have imagined,” she says.

The competitive achievements keep mounting. In February 2024, Kearney High School secured a state championship at York University, defeating teams from Gretna, Lincoln East, and Creighton Prep. “This victory is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion of our students,” says Kearney coach Nate Garringer. “We are incredibly proud of what they have achieved and how they represented our school and community on the state stage.”

These successes reflect the NSESA’s commitment to structured competition and character development. The organization emphasizes four core values – courage, compassion, integrity, and respect – while maintaining strict eligibility requirements similar to traditional sports. Teams compete in specific games on designated days, with Tuesday matches featuring Overwatch 2, Super Smash Bros, Rocket League, and Mario Kart, while Thursday competitions include League of Legends, Chess, and Valorant.

The growth hasn’t come without challenges. Schools face decisions about equipment funding, with solutions ranging from dedicated gaming computers to dual-booted iMacs to Nintendo Switches. There’s ongoing discussion about whether esports should be classified alongside traditional athletics or fine arts activities, affecting everything from funding to recognition.

Yet the benefits – particularly in creating new opportunities for student engagement – continue to drive expansion. As Omaha Central senior Mohamed Aden explains, “Normally I just play games for fun, but with the whole competition part, it actually makes me happy to come to esports every day.”

His teammate, sophomore Sophi Luethge, sees even broader implications: “There’s so many amazing people, there’s so much opportunity, so much money to be made. Games are the future.”

Fort Calhoun’s story, then, is both unique and representative – one thread in a larger tapestry of schools discovering how competitive gaming can enrich their communities and create new pathways for student success. As esports continues to grow, programs like Hansen’s demonstrate how small schools can build meaningful opportunities for their students within this evolving landscape.

Sources

Interview:

• In-depth interview with Bo Hansen, Fort Calhoun High School esports coach and computer science teacher, December 2024

News Articles:

• “FOR THE LOVE OF COMPETITION: Esports enhancing lives at Central High,” by Kelsey Mannix, KMTV.com, November 20, 2024
• “Kearney High School Esports Team Wins State Championship,” Kearney High School Press Release, February 15, 2024
• “Fort Calhoun High School esports report,” by Grant Egger, Enterprise Publishing, November 2023

Organization Documents:

• Nebraska Schools Esports Association (NSESA) Rules and Guidelines, 2024
• NSESA Code of Conduct, 2024
• NSESA About Page and History
• NSESA Sportsmanship Rules, 2024

Additional Source:

• “Esports See Explosive Growth in U.S. High Schools,” by Mary Ellen Flannery, NEA News, September 16, 2021

Note: All NSESA documents were accessed in December 2024.