Bobcat Spotlight
Bennett relishing opportunity with MHS Esports
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(Editor's note: Bobcat Spotlight will be a recurring feature spotlighting Marshalltown High School students who are involved in activities other than traditional sports. Today's feature is the inaugural installment.)
Sam Bennett never thought he'd have the opportunity to represent his high school by playing video games. When Marshalltown High School introduced its esports program in 2022, though, he immediately made an impact.
As a freshman, he contributed to the Bobcats' third-place Overwatch 2 team at last year's Iowa High School Esports Association (IAHSEA) Winter Finals and was part of a state-qualifying Mario Kart 8 team in the spring.
"It's never something that I really considered a school would do," Bennett said. "But I've met a lot of people who I would have never talked to if it weren't for the program."
Bennett first heard rumblings about the program as an eighth-grader as the idea was coming to life at MHS.
With no real prior experience in competitive play, Bennett nevertheless found success in his first year with the Bobcats. And in a variety of games, too, showcasing his skills in something like Overwatch 2, a team-based first-person shooter; or Mario Kart 8, a fast-paced racing game.
This fall, he's picked up Rainbow Six: Siege, another team-based shooter more rooted in gritty realism than the world of Overwatch.
"I didn't pick that game up until maybe a month before the season even started, just because I was never very good at it," Bennett said. "Then I heard about the season and gave it a try, and it turned out I was good at it."
He also is competing in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Nintendo's multiverse-merging fighting game that boasts a roster of 89 characters from all over the video game world.
Bennett plays mostly as Terry Bogard, a character from the King of Fighters series of video games that was released in the early 1990s.
"I'd never heard of him before, or the game he was from until he came out [in Ultimate]," Bennett said. "But playing him is a lot of fun."
How winners are determined varies from game to game in IAHSEA competition but often follows a common format -- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, for example, is contested in a best-2-out-of-3 match format, with each individual game consisting of five players competing in 1-on-1 brawls with the opposing school -- the school with the most wins in those five rounds wins the game and is one step closer to winning the match.
Ultimately, esports has opened up opportunities that weren't there before, said MHS esports coordinator Logan Wolf.
That's particularly true down the road at Marshalltown Community College, where five Bobcat esports grads received scholarship opportunities playing for the MCC esports team that boasted a national championship when Amber Lawthers won the NJCAA esports title in Mario Kart 8 in January.
But esports has also allowed Bennett to make new friends as an underclassmen at MHS.
"Everyone in that room, except for maybe one person, is someone I met because of esports," Bennett said.
Wolf noted that Bennett also had a chance to attend a recent leadership conference for esports and met with a rival from another school, where previous interactions had only come in the gaming arena.
"Then you meet the person and the relationship that they built, where you can talk about games, there's just so much opportunity," Wolf said. "It opens so many windows."
The regular season for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Rainbow Six Siege ends in late October. Winter will bring Rocket League and Overwatch seasons, while Spring brings Mario Kart 8, League of Legends, and the newly-added Valorant, for which Wolf expects to see an influx of competitors, both in the Bobcat Esports Arena and around the IAHSEA.
Better Know a Bobcat
Sam Bennett
Year: Sophomore.
Who's a role model in your life? My dad, Chris.
Who's someone you'd want to have dinner with? Keanu Reeves.
Ideal vacation destination? Japan.
Favorite video game you're playing right now? Overwatch 2 or Mortal Kombat 1.
Overwatch character you've played the most? Reaper.
Favorite music: Rap, hip-hop, but a little bit of everything.
Favorite food: Burgers.
Favorite app: TikTok.
Favorite season: Winter.
Favorite TV show: "One Piece" (the original anime).