Alright, it's time to put off doing chores, homework, or practicing Smash, and instead write a deep, personal, and passionate post that is probably going to be stupidly long.
So, I'm 16 years old, and I started with Smash after I played Brawl at a friend's house and a year or two later I got it myself. This was during 3rd or 4th grade, I probably bought the game around 5th grade? God that's crazy I've been playing it so long. During 7th/8th grade, I didn't have a Wii U (oh did I want one though), but my closest two friends at school would constantly talk about competitive Smash. I was at a small private school in middle school - like ~10 people in my grade - so even if I wanted to not be interested in Smash, I didn't exactly have a choice.
That being said, while I soaked up some knowledge, and gained a little bit of interest, it didn't really go anywhere.
I never got a Wii U, and by the time I saved up for a Switch in 8th grade, the year was practically over. My friend group split up and went to different schools, so that was the end of that. In 9th grade, my freshman year of high school, I have vague memories of trying out for the Smash team for my high school, as my local high school actually has an esports team. However, my Switch had gotten lost in a house fire over the summer, so I didn't even know who to main, and I didn't make the team. No biggy, I wasn't super into it, and I barely remember it.
10th grade went by without anything really happening in Smash. However, last summer, between 10th and 11th grade, I started getting into Brawl again, and trying to get all the achievements. In fact, while I haven't played much in the past few months, I'm still trying to do so and probably have ~75% of the achievements done - which isn't bad for the sheer mass of them. I even downloaded PM during this time, and while not really playing it competitively, I loved using it while I unlocked achievements. I don't remember how (despite this only being like half a year ago, lol - Covid really did make everything a blur) but this somehow related to me trying to play Smash Ultimate competitively, as my parents had bought me a Switch for Christmas the previous year because my old one (that I saved up a year for, ever since it was called the NX) got lost in the house fire. My Mom and Dad are real ones btw :)
So, the last week or two of summer, I start trying to practice for tryouts for my school's esports team. At the time, I was maining Cloud, since I had just played the FFVII Remake and really liked it, so I tried him out for the first time and really liked him. However, not only did I not have tons of time to practice - especially considering the fact that tryouts were pretty soon after school started, but I also had a bit of an anger issue. Now, it wasn't horrible, as I've never been a big rager, but after playing and losing a few matches online, I would quit, which wouldn't allow me to get a lot of practice in.
Tryouts finally came and I made our JV team (Smash is the only game at our school big enough to have JV). Granted, I wasn't much of an accomplishment, as basically anyone could get into JV, considering there was a player in our fifth slot (there are five players on JV and five on Varsity) that was basically completely new to the game. So, I was still bad, but I had at least gotten onto the team, which I would soon find out would be crucial.
By the way, I should make it clear by now that this has happened this school year - I am currently in 11th grade. Oh, and I hope that part wasn't too boring, but the more exciting part - my beginnings as a competitive Smash player - is about to begin.
Our school's Smash team was (and still is) lucky enough to have a coach. His name is Dom and he used to go to our school and play Smash for the team he is now coaching. He attends a local college now and is in his early twenties. Anyways, Dom is crucial in really beginning my journey into competitive Smash and I wouldn't be nearly as passionate about the game - or really involved in it or the community at all - if it weren't for him. I really owe a lot to him - thanks Dom!
Not only did Dom teach me a ton about the game and rub off some of his passion for the game on me, perhaps the most important thing he has done for me happened a couple months after school began. This is when Dom told the Smash team about a local weekly Smash tournament and offered to take some people with him, since, with the drive factored in, the tournament was just after one of our after-school practices. The first week, I wanted to go but my mom wouldn't let me, and Dom ended up taking another student. The next week, my mom talked to Dom and she was convinced to let me go. That week, there wasn't anybody else going - just Dom and I. As a side note, this was also the day that I switched to maining Sheik.
The drive there and back with Dom was great. We talked about characters, tech, and the game in general, as well as the mental aspect, like not getting angry at the game and having a good mindset. On later drives, I would get to know more about Dom, like his major, how he loves driving, a bit about his girlfriend (which I've since met at locals), etc. More importantly though, the local was amazing. I know I already said this about Dom, but the same goes for the local - I wouldn't be nearly as passionate about the game and the community if it wasn't for our local weekly. The tournament is pretty small, with anywhere from six to twelve people attending - usually around eight or nine, though.
Not only did I find that practicing against people who could utterly crush me was a genuinely helpful learning experience, I also found out how helpful everybody at our local scene is. The first person I really met was TJ, who happened to actually be on our team at the same time Dom was, which I didn't know when I first met him. Not only is he cracked at the game, he is also extremely friendly and fun to talk and play with, and is super funny. And on top of this, he was extremely kind and freely offered me tons of advice that would prove to be extremely useful. I kept on going back to the local every week I could, learning, having fun, and meeting new people - there wasn't much more to ask for. I soon found out that all of the top players there are like TJ - extremely friendly, fun, and willing to help a little 16 year old idiot.
Score wise, I've never done well, always going 2-0 unless I went 2-1 because of one of our TOs I could sometimes beat because he mainly plays SF. Still, I didn't care, because by this point, I had developed a mindset of improvement and fun over winning, which I still have, and getting crushed was surprisingly helpful and even fun. As for esports, I had won some games, and lost some games, but again, it didn't really matter. Speaking of esports, we have two seasons each year - a fall season and a spring season. Our fall season ended a couple of months ago, and while our varsity team went on to state, the JV team I'm on did not. I was going to go to State with the varsity team just to have fun and watch, especially since I've made a couple of good friends on the varsity team (Smash really has the best people), but sadly I was unable to go due to venue restrictions. This, however, leads me into where I am now.
Two or three months ago, when the fall season was ending, I surprisingly switched to maining Sephiorth, who is my current main and the one I have kept the longest - it's supising even to me, but I really like his playstyle (not to mention his character both in FFVII and just as a badass). Around the beginning of December, I started to play with and talk to Andrew T, the best player at our locals and top ten in our state. He gave me some really good advice and was super supportive, and even offered to coach me for stupidly cheap. I actually had my first coaching session this Friday (two days ago), and it went really well - super cool dude, and I learned a ton. He even said I only had to pay for the first hour but I paid for both because my boy gotta go to college. And excitingly, my esports coach Dom said I have a guaranteed spot at the bottom of varsity for the coming Spring season because, in his words, I have a good mentality and will clearly keep on improving :)
