WHS’s First eSports Signing

On April 2nd, Senior Sam Graeve became the first student in Waukee High School history to get signed to a college on an eSports scholarship. “Well I didn’t believe it at first… because my whole life, I didn’t really think I could do much with this video game stuff,” he said. Until his senior year, Graeve didn’t really have the skills for competitive gaming. He joined the team at the beginning of the year and watched the club grow throughout its seasons, starting by being a shoutcaster for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate matches, climbing to 3rd place on the Overwatch 2 team, and going into the spring season with a strong start for the League of Legends team.

According to Sam, Marshalltown Community College chose him not because he was good at the games he played, but because in their eyes, he was trainable. “Sam is also very receptive to feedback,” said Marshalltown Coach Nathan Rodemeyer. “We’ve talked to him about his playing, giving him some advice and he’s internalized and figured out how to adopt it.” 

When getting signed, instead of looking at Graeve’s most played games, such as Overwatch and League of Legends, the Marshalltown coaches looked at one of his Smash Ultimate matches, a game that Sam played as a sub for a missing player one week. “Obviously we’ll always ask players what their ranks are, but we don’t really care,” said Rodemeyer, “but pulling in someone like Sam, we know the culture and the team he’s part of, and working cooperatively with other players… goes a long way for us too.”

Coaches’ main focus when signing players isn’t always how good players are at their game, instead, they look at characteristics that they’d like to have on the team. “[Sam]’s positive… I don’t think that I’ve seen him ever be negative,” said Marshalltown Coach Dr. Andrew Goforth, “but gamers have a tendency to get down on themselves in their own head… And I think that a positive person like Sam, not only is it good for his mentals, but it’s good for the rest of his team.” The Marshalltown coaches specifically also said they look for what players can provide for the team outside of having gaming skills, for example, Sam’s first experiences with the WHS eSports club involved him being a shoutcaster along with senior Talan Shah.
Now with the possibility of the team’s players getting signed to compete on a college level, Coach Palmer has high hopes that WHS is recognized as a school that can achieve results. “I hope what it shows is that if you are a person who has a passion, especially with a passion in gaming, then there is a real chance for you to get college money for that,” he said. The team will continue to have competitions for League, Mario Kart, and Valorant streamed on the team’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@WaukeeEsports/streams) on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.