General News

Westside Esports Team opens doors for career development and social interaction

April 9, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes

At lunchtime, Room 300 at Orangeville’s Westside Secondary School is rarely quiet.

Students drift in before the bell, gather around screens and settle into matches, conversations and routines that have quickly become part of the school day.

This is the Westside Valorant Esports Team, a relatively new, three-year-running initiative at the high school that’s changing the way students interact and express themselves through technology.

At the core of the esports team are the coaches, including Lachlan Mackintosh, the new media and animation teacher at Westside. A gamer himself, Mackintosh wanted to find a way to bring kids who didn’t quite fit into other circles into a circle of their own that they can call home.

“There’s a lot of kids that have nowhere to go at lunch,” Mackintosh said. “Some of these kids might not have had that many friends, and now they’re able to come in here and get a bunch of friends through the team, and meet like-minded kids. It’s so important for them to have that environment.”

Mackintosh said that originally, they started with some advertisements around school, asking if any students were interested in an esports team, and they got a response from a group of friends. Since then, the team has grown year after year.

“The team is really a group of friends that have been playing together for awhile,” he said. “They play all day, all night, so that chemistry is already there. They just showed up, they played one or two games, and they were really good, so we kept them around.”

“We started out with just a small setup and a few students, and it’s grown from there as more kids got interested and wanted to be part of it.”

The team doesn’t just play for fun. Students will compete in a variety of titles through organized leagues, including those run by the Ontario Schools Esports Association, facing off against teams from across the province and even nationally. The team structure mirrors that of conventional athletics, featuring senior and junior squads, substitutes and game-specific rosters that have expanded well beyond the initial members.

Competition is tight, but Westside demonstrated its mettle this spring, taking home the provincial Valorant Esports Championship, a testament to the hard work, dedication and team spirit that continues to grow at Westside.

According to Mackintosh, students in the Westside esports program develop a wide range of skills that extend well beyond gaming and can benefit them after high school, such as teamwork, communication and social development. He noted that students learn how to work together in competitive environments while building confidence and forming friendships.

In addition to those interpersonal skills, the program provides hands-on technical experience, with students gaining knowledge of computer hardware by helping build gaming PCs, as well as media production skills such as livestreaming, video editing, scripting, and broadcast setup.

Mackintosh also emphasizes the development of professional skills, including on-camera presence, creativity and initiative, as students create content and take ownership of their work.

“All those PCs back there in that room were built by comp sci students from scratch,” he said. “Then the film students get access to editing, live streaming, setting up, script writing — all those broadcast skills are right in there. It’s not just playing video games — there’s a lot of things that go along with it, especially the social part and the skills they’re building.”

“Being able to get students on that train of learning these skills so early will be such a rich development for them. Once they’re out of school, they’ve got a bit of a head start,” Mackintosh added.

Support from the school board has played an important role in the growth of the Westside esports program, particularly in recognizing its impact beyond competition.

Mackintosh noted that the school board has backed the initiative because it provides students with a place to go and connect, especially for those who may not have been involved in other activities. He emphasized that the program creates a safe, inclusive space within the school, noting that much of the support stems from that community.

“We’re in our third year now, so to see kids that were in grade nine to have a pile of friends now when they didn’t have any friends back then, it makes me really happy to see that,” he said. “That’s what makes this community so special and important.”

A major turning point for the program also came through support from the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program and community contributions, including roughly $20,000 in funding from a prominent alumnus who helped equip the team with computers, chairs, and more.

Mackintosh said that investment allowed the team to move beyond a small setup and build a fully equipped space, giving students the tools they needed to compete and helping the program grow into what it is today.

With a provincial championship now under their belt, Westside’s esports team is continuing to build momentum as the season moves forward. Upcoming competitions, including regular league play and spring tournaments, will give both veteran players and new recruits more opportunities to test their skills and represent the school.

For Mackintosh, the wins are meaningful, but it’s the growth behind them that stands out — students gaining confidence, building friendships and finding success in a space they can call their own.

Readers Comments (0)