CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Eight high school teams from across the state will meet in Greensboro on June 4 for the first esports state championship.

The championship will include teams from Olympic High School, Ardrey Kell High School, JT Williams Secondary Montessori School, South Meck High School, Lincolnton High School, East Lincoln High School, Cabarrus Tech High School and a team from N.C.'s Scholastic Esports Alliance.

What You Need To Know

  •  Varsity esports and STEM League is a sanctioned Charlotte-Mecklenburg school sport

  •  Eight teams will compete on June 4 in North Carolina's first esports state championship 

  •  The National Association of Collegiate Esports has more than 5,000 student-athletes and has awarded $16 million in scholarships and aid since 2016

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Esports and STEM League commissioner, Charlie Mulligan, says a pilot esports and STEM league started at CMS in the fall of 2022 with 12 high schools. In the spring of 2023, the varsity sport expanded to include 21 schools throughout the CMS district and is now an officially sanctioned CMS sport.

"CMS is a district of thousands of students. And so, to be able to offer this opportunity to students to get all the benefits that sports provide — discipline, teamwork, communication, personal growth — to players that wouldn't normally have that opportunity is huge," Mulligan said.

On Memorial Day weekend, the largest North Carolina high school level varsity Esports and STEM League District Championship was held at Bank of America Stadium. 

For esports, each game has its own varsity team, including Rocket League, Valorant and Super Smash Bros. In the STEM category, teams compete by creating their own app and are judged on the app's functionality and practicality. 

Nathan Grasty is on the varsity Rocket League team at JT Williams Secondary Montessori School.

"The standard game mode is three vs three soccer in a dome and you control cars," Grasty said. "I've just been playing it on and off for the past few years of my life pretty much, but I got pretty good at it and this league got me a lot better than I was, and now I can take it seriously." 

The National Association of Collegiate Esports, founded in 2016, says now it has over 240 members, 5,000 student athletes and has awarded $16 million in esports scholarships and aid.