“You guys don’t have to worry. These are girls in a man’s game.”

She sits at her computer ready to play the state championship two years ago when she overhears these words. These words weren’t said by a random student competitor or online player, but by a coach. A coach speaking to his high school team at a professional championship.

Senior Abby Pham is the esports president and the captain of the junior varsity (JV) “Valorant” team. She led her team to the Texas Undisputed Esports State Championship April 30-May 2 and was the only girl from Hebron Esports to attend. Abby was recognized for being a part of women in esports and earned the “All-State” award.

Abby first joined esports her sophomore year, having played videogames her entire life. Her family got her into different games such as the “Mario” games, “Super Smash Bros.” and “Minecraft.” Around her eighth grade, her friend introduced her to “Valorant.” When she joined esports for “Valorant,” she was originally a part of the “Lady Valorant” team — a team of all girls. At the start of her junior year, the team fell apart due to personality differences and two graduating seniors.

“If you don’t have that team chemistry, it just can’t exist,” Abby said. “When ‘Lady Valorant’ disbanded, I was devastated. I decided that I still wanted to compete.”

Wanting to continue in esports, Abby decided to create her own second JV team — “Valorant” Blue, becoming the current JV “Valorant” Black team. She looked for “Valorant” players at school, originally recruiting current seniors Aiden Le and Sameer Lakhani and sophomores Seth Bouton and David Ahn.

“She definitely helped me grow my mindset,” Ahn said. “Before I started playing with her, I’d always be angry [with] my teammates, but her insightfulness and way of thinking influenced me to be more of a leader.”

During prior years on esports, Abby said she had faced misogyny from past teammates. After recruiting her team, players on the “Valorant” Black team made comments about whether she deserved to be in the program.

“The guys would always make comments [saying] ‘she had to make her own team to be able to play’ [and] ‘I would be surprised if she’s president,’” Abby said. “I was so captivated by the entire spirit of the program. I remember telling Mr. Gorham, who was the sponsor at the time [that I was] going to be [the] president when I [became] a senior.”

Last year, Abby was the vice president of esports. This year, she became the president, getting esports their first appearance at the school pep rally and bringing back state send-off. This was her third year qualifying for state. As president, she has planned increased fundraisers and events, such as esports’ first team dinner and Christmas party.

“Over time, she has really found her way in terms of leadership,” head coach Kristopher Phillips said. “She’s been the person that I can count on to get stuff done. There were issues with teams who didn’t necessarily think that girls should be involved [competitively, but] she’s shown up to state and made lots of friends in a way that wasn’t the same.”

Last year, Abby had reported another team for breaking rules. Coaches were involved and they were forced to forfeit the match. Later on, the team threatened to find her at the state championship this year, causing them to be completely removed from the league.

“The unfortunate reality is that when you’re a girl in a male-dominated space, people assume you’re doing it for attention, that you’re inherently not as good as them or that you don’t belong there,” Abby said. “I found that very demotivating, and it felt very isolating.”

Abby plans to continue in the esports program at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She said that the collegiate atmosphere has people that are more welcoming after reaching out to multiple college esports programs. 

“The reason I still do esports even though I’ve faced a lot of people not wanting me to, [is because] I know that sophomore me really enjoyed seeing other girls in the program,” Abby said. “My biggest goal is to show people that when you’re passionate about something, go and pursue it. I want some freshman girl to look up to me and be unapologetic about [what she’s doing].”