Apprentice Program: Round Fifty Four

[Kevin Garrett]

Welcome to round 54 of Battling 101. There are some changes that will come as welcomed change to many of you out there. We're dropping the 15 post limit restiction to sign-up for Battling 101. In place of it, we will be changing up the registration form. If you have less than 25 posts, you will need to say why you should be tutored. There is a high demand for this program and our tutors put in a lot of effort. It isn't fair to them if apprentices disappear or don't put in the same level of commitment. These explanations don't have to be extravagant, but they should display your willingness to stick with the program through its entirety.

Username:
Age:
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username:
Your timezone and usual hours of availability:
What tier do you want to learn?:
Tell us a little about yourself:

To clear up any confusion, here is an example of what Philip7086's application would look like:

Username: Philip7086
Age: 22
Shoddy Username: Philip7086, Pro Bro
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT-8, 4:00PM-2:00AM
What tier do you want to learn?: DP OU.
Tell us a little about yourself: I had to ask my boss if I could get out of work early to post my Pokemon apprentice application.

I deleted all of my posts because they were all terrible. I really want to learn how to play Pokemon the right way because I have struggled with it for so long and put in a lot of time to get better, but can't improve at all.

YOU MUST PROVIDE A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF WHY YOU SHOULD BE TUTORED IF YOU HAVE LESS THAN 25 POSTS. Additionally, you must be able to use Pokémon Online, or at least Shoddy Battle (if you only wish to learn DPP OU).

Important: In addition, after your time of tutoring, please take the time to fill in the evaluation form and send it to the entire tutoring staff. This helps us on so many levels!

Assignments: (you can check them online too)

Steven Snype - The Shiny Umbreon
undisputed - Eos
Aerrow - Shining Latios
Lamppost - NickiMinaj
macle - Arctic Eclipse
DracoMalfoy - ShakeItUp
Fried Rhys - DragonZane
Ojama - sabeta_sama
Eternal - mehbear
Squirrel. - Zambos King
Lamppost - The Wolf
zarator - Lady Salamence
Haunter - DialaceStarvy
ala - Mostwanted
Stone_Cold - cosmicexplorer
Zephyr - Maxb
AndViet - DittoCrow
Huntofthelion - dragonuser
Nachos - Ruppy
yondie - Roshi
ChouToshio - Angel Eyes
am - smashlloyd20
Scimjara - HydroSwampert
idiotfrommars - LighTz911
B-Lulz - YTP
M Dragon - MikeDecIsHere
ENZ0 - AlphaJolt
reyscarface - ilebronz
TEzeon - zekuhryuh

[The Shiny Umbreon]

Assigned to Steven Snype

Username: The Shiny Umbreon
Age: 16
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: The Shiny Umbreon
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT-5, 9-11 PM any day, and almost whenever on weekends.
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU.
Tell us a little about yourself: I've been into Pokémon forever, and have been battling competitively since D/P, but I struggle with teambuilding and in-battle logic. I applied a couple rounds ago, but had to drop out due to a lack of a viable internet connection. I'm back now, though, and ready to try this again!

Oh, and if it's at all possible I'd like to resume tutoring with Kevin Garrett. If not, that's fine, I'll gladly take anyone.

[Eos]

Assigned to undisputed

Username: Eos
Age: 15
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: Eos
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT-5. 3pm-12am on weekdays. 5pm-12pm on weekends.
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU most importantly. Then if possible ADV OU and then last but not least DDP OU. I was pretty good in dpp ou but I haven't played in a while and am rusty. Never played adv, but it seems so balanced and fun I'd love to learn!
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm in 10th grade, a zone time swimmer competitively, a good majority of you probably know me (especially if you are on po from time to time), and I want to be a g00d battlR! My biggest problem is probably team building.
Requesting undisputed or enz0!

[Shining Latios]

Assigned to Aerrow

Username: Shining Latios
Age: 13
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: Shining Latios
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: EST, GMT -4; 3 pm - 10 pm on weekdays and varies on weekends
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU, DPP OU
Tell us a little about yourself: 13 year old guy. I enjoy playing Pokemon and didn't get much sessions due to time zone differences and Playa being busy. Outside of Pokemon I enjoy playing Basketball, Football, Baseball, Skateboarding, Hanging out with friends and playing Xbox.

Also, I think AndViet agreed to tutor me but I am not 100% sure.

[NickiMinaj]

Assigned to Lamppost

Username:NickiMinaj
Age: 15
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: Pizza/KingofMuffins
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: EST 4:00-12:00
What tier do you want to learn?: BW UU
Tell us a little about yourself: I make my best effort at anything I try and that includes: Pokemon, School, Football, etc. Ive been tutored before in OU but I would like to try my hand at UU. I am so thankful that I can have the opportunity to be tutored by the best pokemon players in the world!
I changed my username to NickiMinaj from Hokage
P.S Eternal agreed to tutor me in BW UU

[Arctic Eclipse]

Assigned to macle

Username: Arctic Eclipse
Age: 15
Pokemon Online username: Arctic Eclipse
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT -7 5-10 PM on most weekdays.
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU, Ubers, and UU in that order.
Tell us a little about yourself: I've been competitive battling for a long time now (since 2007) and I've been wanting to be tutored so that I can get the hang of things in new tiers and also I want to become a better battler and team builder so that I can earn some respect here on Smogon.

[ShakeItUp]

Assigned to DracoMalfoy

Username: TheMasterOfOz
Age: 15
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: ShakeItUp
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: CST, usually from about 6PM-10PM on weekdays.
What tier do you want to learn?: ADV OU, BW UU (in no particular order)
Tell us a little about yourself: I just finished getting tutored in BW OU, and now that I am adept at that tier I want to learn some other tiers. I'm of Indian descent and am very easy to get along with. I play Lacrosse in high school.

[Zane777]

Assigned to Fried Rhys

Username: DragonZane
Age: 16
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: DragonZane, -Zane- , or Wings in the Sunn
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT -8 (Cali) and 4-9 weekdays, alot on weekends
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU, DPP OU
Tell us a little about yourself: My real name is Zane, if im not on, im either surfing, playing ukulele or with my friends.

Fried Rhys agreed to tutor Me :)

[sabeta_sama]

Assied to Ojama

Username: Sabeta
Age: 19
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: Various (Primary: Sabeta, Phoenix Django)
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT-4: 10:00am-1:30am
What tier do you want to learn?:BW OU
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm a long time battler of generation four, and I would say I have gathered some moderate skill there as well. I heartily enjoyed spear heading Gen-5 and finding all sorts of different things that did and didn't work; however, no matter what approach I take I can't seem to break out of just average. I have moderate skill, understand most of the basics, but can't reach that little pinnacle of perfection that would shoot me into a truly skilled player.

My goal isn't necessarily to become the very best there ever was over night, but instead to simply build a much more firm understanding of how to play the game. What things should I look out for. A strong basis that will make me a force to be reckoned with. At the very least, respectable. I feel that through this program I can achieve a new personal level of skill. Perhaps not a proffesional, but more advanced, so that I may continue to the trek to professionalism without the need for constant assistance

I feel that my main weakpoints are team building. I can often take a look at teams and plug all of the weakness, but then almost always neglect one simple little rule that Pokemon won't always use it's stab moves. (Infernape destroyed every sandstorm team I ever made until I remembered that). Even when I do take such things into consideration, I often find my team failing to a single threat, and when I attempt to cover that weakness I find myself falling short elsewhere. I suppose I need help in grasping the big picture, and better understanding the metagame itself, and how that should correlate to team building.

I'm not sure how many posts I have at the moment, so I'll go ahead and write up reasons why I should be tutored. While I don't post so frequently here, I have lurked quite often. I've tried several times (unsuccesfully) to get into this program and find that I missed the cut-off. Finally this time I decided to leave the tutoring section open and simply refresh once a day. I'm glad to see that paid off.

I have always been a relatively quick learner, and I feel that I am an agreeable person and most people tend to get along with me, so any tutor will be fine really, so long as they have the skills to help me. I have very flexible hours so that shouldn't be too hard a challenge.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I look forward to meeting my tutor, should I get one.

~Sabeta

[mehbear]

Assigned to Eternal

Username: mehbear
Age: 19
Shoddy Username: mehbear
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT+8, 7PM-11PM, all day during weekends
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU.
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm clarence from singapore, been playing on smogon since dpp to limited success. Mostly want to learn teambuilding as I'm pretty comfortable with predictions. Applied for the previous round but didn't get it. Also requesting Eternal because I think he agreed to tutor me.

Why I should be tutored: i managed to PP stall a gliscor out of earthquake to beat him with my heatran by repeatedly switching into skarmory. Any player who has the patience to do that definitely has the dedication to carry on with the tutoring program. Jokes aside, I am pretty interested and have been participating on the ladder for quite awhile, so wyanut?

[Darkaxis]

Assigned to Squirrel.

Username: Zambos King
Age:13
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: The Cheetos Trainer
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: Basically everyday I will be here :D in addition I live in Honduras a country with no Daylight Savings..
What tier do you want to learn?: OU, UU, RU Ubers
Tell us a little about yourself: I like Cheetos and Doritos

[The Wolf]

Assigned to Lamppost

Username: The Wolf
Age: 18
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: The Wolf
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: Usually available around 2pm to 10pm on some weekdays EST
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU
Tell us a little about yourself: I have been playing competitively for three years. I'd like to improve with teambuilding.

[Lady Salamence]

Assigned to zarator

Username: Lady Salamence
Age: 16
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: Lady Salamence, Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: 5:45-7:30 pm, 9:15-10:00 pm
What tier do you want to learn?: BW Ubers
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm Lady Salamence, still trying to adapt to new hours of avaidibility.

sabeta_sama has the best signup post

[DialaceStarvy]

Assigned to Haunter

Username: DialaceStarvy
Age: 14
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: DialaceStarvy
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT, 5:00PM - 9:00PM
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU
Tell us a little about yourself: I like to lie about what I like.

[cosmicexplorer]

Assigned to Stone_Cold

Username: cosmicexplorer
Age: 15
Pokemon Online Username: cosmicexplorer
Timezone: GMT -4, 4:00 PM-9:00 PM weekdays, almost all the time on weekends
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU
A little about yourself: I added some information in previous applications, but I'm a math person. That should make a good start.

[Maxb]

Assigned to Zephyr

Username: Maxb
Age: 18
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: maxb
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: EST, 2 pm till 11 pm on weekdays. Weekends can vary depending on what I'm doing.
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU (LC too if there's time)
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm 18 years old and a freshman in college.
I have been playing competitive since around the end of 4th gen.
Despite my low post count, I spend A LOT of time lurking around these forums. I will try to get more involved and post around more though.
I go to college in PA, my home is in NJ. I also play Runescape (inb4flame) but not that often. When I'm not doing school work I mostly hang out, shoot pool, or play basketball.

My MSN: maxb200@hotmail.com
My skype: specaho

[DittoCrow]

Assigned to AndViet

Username: DittoCrow
Age: 16
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: D-C
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: EST: 3 PM - 8 PM
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU, BW Ubers
Tell us a little about yourself: I have trouble playing consistently but otherwise I'm a pretty solid player.

P.S. AndViet agreed to tutor me.

[dragonuser]

Assigned to Huntofthelion

Username: dragonuser
Age: 15
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: light-kun
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: est, (5 pm- 10 pm usually), then like all weekends lol
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU
Tell us a little about yourself: im a decent battler and have been playing for a while now. I just have recently found myself plateauing and i think the only way i can get better is to finally learn from someone, as all my skills are self taught and not refined. Also i love to play lacrosse and basketball, oh and also weight lifting :) Also im really looking to refine my team building and general skills. thanks

[Ruppy]

Assigned to Nachos

Copied from my application for Round 53 (was not tutored that round) with an update on availability.

Username: Ruppy
Age: 20
Pokemon Online Username: Ruppy
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: EST/GMT -4, I'm back in college now, so my current schedule of availability is as follows: Monday and Wednesday after 4 PM EST, Thursday after 2 PM EST, and available all day on every day not listed (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU and UU (maybe even a bit of help with RU, but that's up to the tutor)
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm currently in my junior year of college, majoring in graphics and web design. I've owned and played every single Pokemon game that's come out in North America. In my spare time (not including competitive battling) I like playing video games, browsing the web, playing soccer, and writing. I discovered competitive battling a few months ago when I stumbled upon PokeMoshPit while doing random searches on YouTube out of boredom one day, and after doing some digging I came across Smogon and Pokemon Online. I've lurked on here for a few months before finally joining, and haven't regretted it. While I've had my moments on PO, I'll admit that overall I need help. I consider myself a little decent at teambuilding, but definately need help when it comes to movesets and team synergy. My other biggest problem is the prediction game, which I lose 95% of the time against an opponent who knows what they're doing. Finally... I think it's a bit obvious that I have a bad habit of going too detailed sometimes. ^^"

[Roshi]

Assigned to yondie

Username: Roshi
Age: 19
Pokemon Online Username: Roshi
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT-5, Available in the evenings straight through the night to early hours.
What tier do you want to learn?: BW UU / BW OU
Tell us a little about yourself: Hopefully you can tell I'm a Dragon Ball fanboy to the max. The only other thing I do on the computer these days besides watch anime and play pokes is Maplestory, but I’m also going to quit soon. Besides that I love soccer (Will try out for club here at school) and tennis (got wrecked last year at tryouts lol) and I'm thinking of a double major in Philosophy and Political science. Pokemon-wise, I started playing competitively in Fall of 2009 and quit on and off. I'm starting back in 5th gen and am getting a little tired of weather warring in OU, but I really need to shape up my game either way haha. I’ve been told that UU is fun so I’d like to learn that, but I will also be playing OU to hopefully gain voting privileges.

I really am looking for a complete breakdown and rebuilding of my game, but I definitely want to focus on team building and developing a more advanced playstyle that will enable me to compete with all levels of players in a competent manner.

[Angel Eyes]

Assigned to ChouToshio

PO Username: Angel Eyes
Age: 17
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: U.S. Pacific Time Zone. 4:00 pm and afterwards all 7 days of the week.
What tier do you want to learn?: BW UU.
Tell us a little about yourself: I am in my senior year of high school and have recently found a lot of free time on my hands, so I decided to pursue competitive Pokemon battling. I found 5th gen OU to be broken and stale so I moved to BW UU. It's fun, and I would like to master it to the best of my ability. I'm not that good, but I do have a desire to learn.
Edit: I think I should be tutored because, despite my inactivity on the forums and such, I am quite active on the Smogon server on PO, and have a real drive to get better at battling. I've been at it for months, but I'm not very good.

[smashlloyd20]

Assigned to am

Username: smashlloyd20
Age: 14
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: smashlloyd20
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT -5; 4-6 or so on weekdays, variable on weekends
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU / BW UU
Tell us a little about yourself: Been playing Pokemon for a while and I can be decent but my teambuilding skills are really lacking, and I'm hoping to improve them.

[HydroSwampert]

Assigned to Scimjara

Username: HydroSwampert
Age: 14
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: [PS]HydroSwampert
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: Central (-5 or -6 , I think -6 ! :P ) For weekdays, not much until soccer is done, early next month, and most of weekends, except Saturday this weekend, as I am going to a Soccer Tourny , but I will still be on later! I can try to be on a hour or more during most weekdays!
What tier do you want to learn?: 5th Gen. OU
Tell us a little about yourself: I have been Battling for a couple of months, maybe not even, but I have learned a lot in my time! I am a freshman in high school now! I also play soccer! I am good at Math , for my grade. I also run long distance, like, about a half mile! :)

I think that I should be Tutored so that I can become a better Member and help others in the RMT Section , and maybe even become a Tutor someday! I am a decent battler now, but I would like to become even better! I think that you guys could help me immensely, and help me expand my knowledge, so I can contribute now more here! I have read some RMTs , including some of them in the Archives ! I hope that I can improve with being Tutored ! I also hope that someone Tutors me now! Thanks a lot!

I will be working on getting some more Posts this weekend too!

[LighTz911]

Assigned to idiotfrommars

Username: LighTz911
Age: 13
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: LighTz911
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: 4:00 - 6:00 EST
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU
Tell us a little about yourself: I'm an thirteen-year-old boy who enjoys playing Pokemon. I'd like to learn to build a much more solid team, know what moves would be the best to make in certain situations, and how to be successful at laddering.

[forthwright]

Assigned to TEzeon

Username: zekuhryuh
Age: 18
Pokemon Online/Shoddy Username: zekuhryuh
Your timezone and usual hours of availability: GMT -8/7 (something like that) (5PM-1AM)
What tier do you want to learn?: BW OU / BW LC (in that order)
Tell us a little about yourself:I started playing competitively about 2 years ago during the middle-to-end of 4th gen and I haven't looked back. I've taught myself pretty well up until now, but I've been wanting some kind of guidance for a while. I have a few problems, mostly with teambuilding due to being stubborn with team choices. I don't like getting through OU using a standard method that a bazzilion people use. Most of my teams are based on the idea "take care of the top 10-20 OU threats". Additionally, I like the atmosphere here. The community is really cool and I would love to play a larger part in it. As for my personal life, I play the bass and love music in general. I have YouTube page by the same username as my Smogon account if anyone's interested in listening to some of stuff.

I know I'm fairly new here on Smogon, but if you give me this chance to learn valuable battling skills I'll be around a lot more often. I lurk as it is now, but that can be changed into posting easily enough. I would love to contribute an analysis here and there and be apart of the site staff eventually. I just need someone to give me a chance to show that desire. All I ask is for that chance.