In the growing world of Esports, many people are becoming more interested in watching video games, but few think of actually becoming one of those exclusive individuals who actually play. Drew Thayer ‘18, is one of these people.

At the age of 12, Thayer started playing the game, League of Legends. “I had a friends who introduced me to it three years ago, and ever since then, we’ve had a competition over who could get better.” In three years, Thayer reached a rank in the game known as “Challenger”. Only 200 people in North America are in this rank, many of which are professional players. Thayer also holds the title of being the youngest “Challenger” out of all 200. League of Legends is currently the largest online multiplayer game, consisting of 67 million monthly users. This huge game also has huge rewards. In 2014, the World Championship prize pool was $2.1 million. With such massive winnings you would think that anyone good enough to compete at that level would. Thayer has certainly considered being a professional player “I’ve thought about it, and right now, I’m too young to join any professional teams, you have to be seventeen for that. But as I get more recognized, I hope to join a professional team.” Some may think that this is a far-fetched dream, but some professional players aren’t even in the “Challenger” rank. Thayer has also competed in many tournaments for League of Legends “I’ve done a couple tournaments, mostly online, but I’ve gone to a few LAN (or local area network) tournaments which are the ones you actually go to. My highest place is second, in the LAN tournament, so, and I’ve been to three of them.” Joining a game with players way better than you can be a intimidating aspect, but Thayer started and is glad that he did, he even has some parting advice. “If you are laning, you always need to get your CS (creep score) and farm up”. Thayer doesn’t just play League of Legends, he says that one of his favorite games besides the Esport giant, is the mobile phone game “Hearthstone”. Thayer also plans to play the brand new gaming coming out called “Overwatch”. In a couple of years when Thayer becomes an Esport legend, you can remember that he went to the exact same school as you.