Kaliek Wade’s penchant for video games began when he was 4 years old.

Gaming on his mom’s phone was a way to keep him still when she needed him to be quiet.

“And playing Angry Birds with my Pa on his tablet,” Wade laughed. “It’s where it all started.”

Wade, a sophomore at Garinger High School in Charlotte, quietly followed his school’s new varsity esports team the last few months, waiting for his turn at the keyboard.

“My competitiveness, I guess, is what hooked me on gaming,” the 16-year-old Wade told The Charlotte Observer. “I like to play against someone to win.”

In 2023, it’ll be Wade’s turn on the keys. He’s on Garinger’s team in the spring season of the new Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools varsity esports and STEM league. When it launched its fall season in November, it became the first-ever high school esports league in North Carolina.