Skyline freshman Jesse Garcia admitted that he wasn’t too familiar with the game, so senior Wilver Amaya walked him through the paces, just like a good teammate would.

His help, though, wasn’t aimed at better understanding a football play or chess strategy.

Instead, he was giving pointers on various characters in the Nintendo Switch fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

“Try ‘Toon Link,’” Amaya said, giving button combos on how to lob bombs and shoot arrows.

“Ooh, I like this,” Garcia answered. “He’s fast.”

The Dallas ISD is set to press play on a new esports program at its middle schools and high schools, creating teams and leagues for more than 700 students at 64 campuses.

Not only do district officials see the idea as another pathway for students to find interest in computer-related industries like game design, but the effort would also help campuses meet district goals for extracurricular participation, which is measured and used in DISD’s local accountability system.

Trustees will vote to amend the budget to pay nearly $450,000 for the program, which is set to start in earnest in the coming weeks.

Most of the district’s high schools, including Skyline, took part in an invitational tournament this weekend, and will begin league play later this month.

“It helps us train our mind, to become more tactical in everything,” Amaya said. “And, as well, it helps us meet new people. I probably wouldn’t have met you, Jesse, if it wasn’t for this.”

‘Goes hand in hand’

Skyline has 15 students on its esports team, and about 20 to 25 students who participate in weekly “Scrim Club” practices, said coach Elizabeth Hughes. Like at all other DISD high schools, Skyline’s team will compete in three different games throughout the year: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and PC games League of Legends and Rocket League.

Hughes isn’t a gamer but sees the value in it. A computer programmer, she teaches a four-year pathway for video game design, giving kids advanced instruction on skills used in the $120 billion video game industry.

“As they play the game, they get to know the creative side and programming side as well,” she said. “It connects with my program; it goes hand in hand.”

Eduardo Perez talks with a teammate during a practice for the Skyline High School esports club on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

In a broad sense, though, an esports team formalizes what students are already spending hours on after school, Hughes said.

“There are certain common 21st-century skills that kiddos need to have,” she said. “They need to be able to collaborate, productively think, critically think and be tech-savvy. These are kids who were born into technology. While you have skeptics that may say, ‘Hey, this isn’t going to work,’ we can’t educate the way that we did 20 years ago. They are digital natives. All they know is technology.

"Esports, it’s all about your mindset, and being able to think on your feet.”

‘Begged and pleaded’

DISD’s plans came together quickly over the spring and summer, said Sharla Hudspeth, director of student activities.

The district had meetings in April and May to discuss potentially adding esports to its offerings, but didn’t lean into the idea until June, after hearing how a gaming program had taken off in the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD.

Administrators in Grapevine, Hudspeth said, noted that over 70% of the students in the gaming program there had never been involved with any other activity.

“It really brought in the differentiated learners, those that may not be the most social of the group, but they were part of a team, they had their jersey, and they loved it,” she said.

Finding a niche for all students to participate in an extracurricular activity is one of the DISD’s key goals. Trustees made extracurricular participation a major priority in 2017, setting a districtwide goal of 78% participation by the 2021-22 school year.

And the goal has teeth, too. The level of participation at each campus is incorporated into the district’s local accountability system — which, in turn, serves as 50% of the state’s A-F grades.

Research shows that students who take part in some sort of extracurricular activity, such as music, athletics and academic clubs, are more likely to have fewer absences, do better in school and have higher post-graduation aspirations.

Stephanie Elizalde, the chief of school leadership, met with Hudspeth, and they found money in their respective budgets to launch a 20-school pilot, with 10 middle schools and 10 high schools.

But when the district surveyed schools on taking part in the pilot, the interest was overwhelming: 64 campuses, including 33 traditional and specialty high schools.

“And not only did they respond to that one request, they called and they emailed and they begged and pleaded, ‘Please select our school,’” Hudspeth said.

Emily Juarez (left) and Wilver Amaya play a video game during a practice of the Skyline High School esports club on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Not wanting to tell schools they were out of the running for the pilot, Hudspeth and her office held off making a decision on which schools would be included until after a September esports tournament held by Burleson ISD and a workshop at Edison Learning Center on Sept. 21.

The turnout for both was tremendous, officials said. At the tournament, 50 students from 10 DISD schools showed up by their own volition. Samuell’s five-player Super Smash Bros. team finished third, and Skyline’s Giovanni Rivas tied for first place in Fortnite.

At the esports workshop — where representatives from Dallas-based pro teams Dallas Fuel and Team Envy gave presentations — over 300 students from 42 different schools took part.

“This was so relevant to them; they loved it,” Hudspeth said.

‘Rooted in our students’

High schools in Texas and across the country have been launching esports programs with regularity over the past few years, joining the overall surge in interest in gaming.

For some perspective on the size of esports, in 2018, more people streamed the League of Legends World Championships than watched the Super Bowl.

In Texas, several colleges, including the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of North Texas, offer scholarships for their esports teams.

And the state’s public school extracurricular governing body, the University Interscholastic League, might create an esports pilot program for high schools next school year. Its legislative council will consider the concept later this month.

During a board briefing earlier this month, the six Dallas ISD trustees in attendance had nothing but praise about the new program.

Trustee Joyce Foreman said she was strongly supportive of the program, adding that the level of interest around esports would likely mimic the swell of students in the district’s robotics programs.

Trustee Edwin Flores said esports might be part of a recipe to reach the 30% of DISD high school students who don’t take part in an extracurricular activity.

Board President Justin Henry called it “a phenomenal idea, that’s rooted in our students and what their interests are.”