Idaho Falls gamers set to return to national esports tournament in Florida, but need your help to do it

IDAHO FALLS — Waving spotlights flash on stage. Fingers dash across buttons and keys. Young eyes absorb every frame to make the next split-second decision.

The players on the XP League Idaho Falls esports team, coached by Erik Johnson, are good at gaming. So good, in fact, that they’ve earned a chance to compete in the national Esports Series Championship in Florida later this month.

The event will be hosted by Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Teams comprised of kids between the ages of 7 and 17 will descend on the Orland suburb from June 25-28 to demonstrate their gaming skills to see who comes out on top.

“We treat gaming like a sport,” Idaho Falls coach Erik Johnson said. “So, kids are not locked in basements, playing video games by themselves.”

Comparing the sport to Little League, Johnson said he works to build a small community by bringing together kids with similar interests so they can learn the positives of working as a team.

While a majority of his team is based in Idaho Falls, it also includes remote members from across the state. Molly Hazard, a mother to one of the team’s youngest members, told EastIdahoNews.com that her 8-year-old son, Theo, has been working hard to get to this point.

“He is excited for this opportunity,” she said. “And just like the others, (he) has put in time, effort and energy to get here.”

At the national tournament, the Idaho Falls team will compete in a variety of video games such as Minecraft Bedwars, Overwatch, Rocket League and Fortnite. While some matches require four teams of four, other games have their own determined number of rounds, elimination types and set number of players per team.

For some of Johnson’s team, this will be their first look at the big screens of brackets and the confetti blasts for winning teams. I will also be their first experience of feeling the pressure to win.

For others, like members of the Overwatch and Rocket League teams, this will be their second year — another opportunity to improve their ranking from the year before.

The team secured a spot in the top seven at the 2025 championship, according to the Idaho Falls XP League Facebook page. The next goal is “to win the tournament in all of the games,” Johnson said.

“I’m excited about our kids being able to participate,” he added.

The Idaho Falls XP League will be fighting for the first-place prizes that include a trophy, championship rings and scholarships.

To give each team member a chance to travel to Florida and participate in the national competition, Johnson has organized a fundraiser to help cover travel and lodging expenses for the kids. A link to the Facebook page can be found here

The three-day event will also be live-streamed on Twitch and can be watched here.