The Unit 5 E-sports team is proclaimed as one of the Best E-Sports programs, according to E-Sports Coach, Jarrod Rackauskas.

As the school year goes on, Unit 5 ESports continues to achieve more and more medals in a variety of video games.

Recently, the cruise team won fourth place in the Allstate multi-state National.

Last semester, they won second in Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, and Rocket League, and last year, they took first in Fortnite in the state competition.  

While they have made it to regionals in IHSA tournaments for games like Overwatch and Valorant, they have not placed.

“The reality is only one team gets to win,” E-Sports coach and science teacher, Jarrod Rackauskas, stated.

Like many other sports, E-Sports practices video games, but it can be difficult to practice at times because playing against another player is different from playing against AI.

“Because [e-sports] doesn’t have anything necessary physically, (…) we don’t spend a whole lot of time doing cardio workouts per se (…). It’s not like I can do a drill for a game,” Rackauskas explained. 

However, the team practices a variety of games each day.

For example, they practice Rocket League three times a week for four hours.

In the upcoming month, E-Sports will be competing in a new game, Marvel Rivals. The game is 6v6 (six players against six enemy players), and they will have three teams involved in Marvel Rivals.

At the end of April, going into May, the team is going to be competing in Super Smash Brothers singles, and will be conducted like Super Smash Brothers Cruise (which is a 5v5 King of the Hill).

“Your team is a 5v5 and it’s all 1v1, but once you knock out someone, someone else in the team takes their place, and then when there’s no one left on a team, the other team wins,” Rackauskas said.

The team will also be competing in Rocket League, 4v4 Mario Kart, EAFC 25, and Madden 25. 

The E-Sports team has taken one state in NBA 2K, Mario Kart, the top three, and the state level in Fortnite, the top three in Mario Kart, Rocket League, and Smash Bros.

“Some schools are good at one game, so they put all their energy into that one game. We are one of the very few programs that have won a state championship across different games, so that’s kind of a unique fun thing that we have,” Rackauskas explained.

Rackauskas recognizes senior Jacob Jones as a key player on the competitive side.

Jones is one of the best Rocket League players in the state of Illinois, according to Rackauskas.

He has been offered multiple college scholarships for his Rocket League skills.

“Just like if you’re a football player or basketball player, colleges are looking at the high school ESports players to see who are the next incoming freshman class players, and they try to get kids to come to their school [to play on their ESports team],” Rackauskas stated.

On the noncompetitive side, Rackauskas notes that sophomore Hannah Bailey is also a key player.

Bailey helps Rackauskas manage players, rosters, and scouting other teams at competitions.

In fact, Bailey won the outstanding award for E-Sports, ‘Play it, Believe it,’ last school year.

Since the E-Sports team often travels around for competitions, Rackauskas is able to see the team outside of school.

“When we go to the tournaments, you’re spending a long time with the students, you get to get to know them a little bit more and get [to see] another personality,”  Rackauskas stated.

Rackauskas explains that he is grateful for the support West’s administration has for the team, and he believes that is what has allowed the team to grow and attract new players.

Sectionals for E-Sports will be placed on April 26 and the state competition will be on May 3, 2025.