While most people were catching up on lost sleep over summer, the Perry Esports Xbox Rainbow Six Siege team were busy competing at the highest level of competitive gaming available to them at their age, whooping four other high schools in under 20 days to earn them a seat in the finale. That spot allowed them to demolish the last high school standing in their way towards the national championship title, also not to mention the biggest prize pool a team has ever won at Perry.

What led them down the road to this national level of gaming? Well it wasn’t just happenstance, it was due to all of the time and effort put forth by the members of the Xbox Rainbow Six Siege team. Most of the members have been playing Rainbow Six Siege on their Xboxes almost every day after school for years, with most of the team – consisting of 6 members – logging at least a few thousand hours of game time played.

With the time spent on training by all of the players, they each have gained a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics which allows for them to be able to properly communicate with one another, and also aids when coming up with strategic ideas on how to secure a victory. Sophomore Gannon Zapata who plays for the team thinks that, “We are really skilled at the game and know it’s strategy.” He also goes on to state “we have this cohesion that allows for some great teamwork.”

What did all this time, effort, and comrade earn these elite gamers? Other than the rights to say that they won the right to say they are a national champion team, the team also was rewarded with gaming computers, equipment, and scholarship money. 

The value of the teams winnings total approximately $25 thousand. This means that each player on the team earned around $4 thousand. Every member on the team got a $2,000 desktop that they are putting in the school to play their future matches on, a $1,700 laptop, and the rest was from all of the equipment and scholarship money.

With the amount of money won over summer it comes as no surprise at all that the team is trying for another championship this upcoming season. However they will not be playing Rainbow Six Siege on their old Xboxes, instead they are going to play this next season on their new gaming computers.

While the transfer from playing with a controller to a keyboard will be hard at first Sophomore Dominic Garcia has high hopes in his teammates, “I think we have the best players in the league, there is no one else I would rather have on that team,” and he expects to take it all this upcoming fall season.