This time of year is the culmination of a successful season for so many athletes, where their hard work in the gym, on the court, in the pool, on computers, on the ice, and on the ski hills is rewarded.
Hold up a second… “on computers”?
Some of the swiftest athletes at Chaska High School have competed on computers and gaming consoles this year. And if recent results are any indication, they too are in for a successful close to their season.
Meet Chaska High School’s newest team: Chaska Hawks eSports.
eSports is a fast-paced, intense, ultra-competitive sport which, like its “traditional sports” counterparts, requires a ton of hard work and energy.
Chaska is competing in their very first eSports season. The club was founded by sophomore William Browne, who captains the Hawks’ “Rocket League” team. Sophomore Oliver Schenk is one of the team’s inaugural members and serves as captain of the Chaska “Fortnite” team.
“eSports is every bit as competitive as any other sport I’ve ever been in,” said Browne, who competed in hockey and soccer growing up. “You have to put in the time into getting better and be a great teammate. That, along with a desire to want to win and have fun, makes eSports a great sport to be in.”
Schenk agreed with his fellow captain. “The competitive nature of it is just like other sports I am in – baseball and cross country.”
In the team’s inaugural season, William’s father, Aaron Browne, has served as head coach.
“With the team coming together relatively quickly this year, it would have been tougher to find a coach within the district, so I was happy to help get the team up and going this year,” said Coach Browne.
To compete in eSports, a team must focus on a single game. Chaska has two teams in their first year – one that focuses on Rocket League, and another that focuses on Fortnite. (Other schools have teams that compete in additional games like Super Smash Bros, Minecraft Bedwars, Mario Kart, League of Legends, Valorant, and even Chess!)
Players log into the gaming platform from a computer or gaming console, either in a virtual setting at home (like the Chaska players do) or a gaming lab at school.
Rocket League is a 3-vs.-3 game that, according to Browne, is “like Soccer with Cars.” Each player controls their own car, and works with their two teammates to try and score more goals than the other team. There are nuances to the game like getting “Boosts” that can be used for a car to take flight to evade their opponent, and one can master different angles and ricochets that can be used on shots to try and score.
In Fortnite competitions, each school has two players enter a “battle royale” with duos from up to 45 other schools. Each team then tries to survive the battle as long as possible, while getting “kills” of their opponents along the way. Each kill is worth one point, and the winning team is the one that amasses the most points. Teams can “reboot” their fallen partner along the way by earning Revive Beacons during competition, allowing them to get back in the game and earn more points.
Each competition is streamed on the Twitch platform, as well as live on YouTube, and select games throughout the season feature a “Caster” – someone who broadcasts the match and provides commentary.
Chaska’s Rocket League team is captained by Browne, and consists of fellow sophomores Owen and Chase Berger, with Schenk and Ben Codding serving as subs.
The Hawks’ had two Fortnite teams this season, with Schenk and fellow sophomore Tomlin Baumberger making up the Purple team, and Browne and Jordan Busch on the Yellow team.
Since eSports is virtual, team members have a pretty flexible practice schedule, often practicing on weekend nights, or whenever they can due to busy school, work and activity schedules.
In their very first year, the Hawks have made a huge splash on the high school eSports scene, qualifying both the Rocket League and Fortnite Purple teams for the State Tournament at St. Cloud State March 1-2.
According to Browne, Edina and Eagan are the fiercest competitors in Rocket League, with Park Center close behind.
“We had a great match with Edina earlier this year,” said Browne. “It was a best of five and went to a fifth game. We lost that match, so we are looking forward to playing them again at State.”
Edina, Park Center and Hawley (a small town between Moorhead and Detroit Lakes) top the standings in Fortnite going into the State tournament, said Schenk.
“The way Fortnite is set up, it’s tough to tell which team is which sometimes, but Edina has the reputation of being the team to beat,” Schenk said.
The future is bright for the Chaska eSports team, and the sport will no doubt grow in popularity as it attempts to become officially sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League.
Both Browne and Schenk are actively recruiting players to join Chaska eSports for the 2025-26 season.
“We’re looking for people that simply just enjoy playing video games but also want to have fun and work hard to get better,” said Schenk.
Coach Browne also added that eSports is rapidly growing at the collegiate level as well – so much so that some schools even offer scholarships to top eSports athletes.
“Some smaller schools roll eSports right into their athletic departments, while other larger schools treat it as a club,” he said. “In many cases, students can earn academic and athletic scholarships to a school to compete in eSports!”
William Browne is particularly excited about his own collegiate prospects.
“I’d love to continue to perfect my gaming skills and move up the Rocket League rankings, as top-ranked players often do earn scholarships to play in college,” said Browne.
In the meantime, both Browne and Schenk hope to grow the Chaska Hawks eSports program into a Minnesota powerhouse, by adding more teams to the program, and finding a full-time coach.
Interested in learning more about Chaska eSports? Interested players can connect with the team on Discord ( https://discord.gg/GpDFjKxu ).
Also, be on the lookout at the high school for informational sessions as the 2025-26 school year begins. The team also hopes to hold sessions at each of the middle schools during WIN time as well. There is a Spring Club season that new players will be able to join and play in some expanded platforms, including Marvel Rivals which is a newer game that is seeing increased popularity. Interested players for the Spring Club Season can go to https://www.mnvl.org/spring-club-rules to get more details.
Also, here are some additional links of interest:
Rocket League
Rocket League games held head-to-head matches on Thursdays during the Varsity season. Chaska player’s gamertags are dxge, Chowens, ExPoStreams, SilentSword08, and ben_cod0. William Browne (dxge) is the rocket league team captain.
Fortnite
There are nearly 120 Fortnite teams throughout the state. They competed on Tuesdays in three separate groups. Chaska competes in Group A (gamertags dxge and Pepsi), and Group B (gamertags SilentSword08 and Vikings82). Oliver Schenk (SilentSword08) is the Fortnite team captain.
