Dominion High School competes in many sports throughout the year, but many students are unaware of another opportunity to compete. The DHS Esports Club, founded during the pandemic, is slowly gaining more popularity. As video games have become more mainstream over the past few years, people around the world are slowly starting to recognize esports as a legitimate form of amateur, collegiate, and professional competition. 

While the DHS Esports Club is still in the preliminary stages, LCPS has proved that they’re willing to invest in the future of high school esports. Recently, the club received 10 gaming setups, exclusively for members of the esports club to use. Each setup contains a Thinkstation P360 computer, a Lenovo 144hz monitor, and peripherals including a mouse, keyboard, and headset. Each of these setups add up to over $1,000, but it seems that the club is putting them to good use.

The DHS Esports Club, led by history teacher Mr. Iseminger, is now in its third year. The club has struggled with recruiting enough players in the past, but due to the recently acquired equipment and improved recruiting techniques, the club is able to field a full roster for League of Legends, a 5-person strategy game and one of the most popular esports titles in the world.

Dominion isn’t the first school within Loudoun County to form an esports program. The DHS Esports Club will join other schools like Potomac Falls, Loudoun Valley, and Heritage, who are also competing in the Virginia League of Legends league, hosted by an organization called PlayVS. 

PlayVS is one of the leading organizations when it comes to school esports, and they provide an outlet for students who are passionate about esports to compete against other players around the country. PlayVS and other sites like StayPluggedIn.com are some of the best resources out there for students interested in playing competitive esports.

PlayVS is considered to be in the preliminary stages of becoming an official high school sport at Dominion, and will be considered an official high school sport next year. The Dominion League of Legends team narrowly missed the Spring 2023 playoffs after finishing the regular season with a 4-4 record.