Super Smash Bros. Tournament Was a Smash Among Students

Maritza De Armas/Staff Writer

The coronavirus pandemic has left the FIU community in a daze. Faculty and students had to adjust to remote learning in a short amount of time. This adjustment has left students to encounter more stress than what they usually deal with on a day-to-day basis.

“I’ve been stressing a little. My physics teacher has been extremely all over the place regarding our last test so it has been a little crazy,” said Paul Lahoud, a biochemistry junior who is adjusting to this change with the rest of the community.

While the coronavirus has kept most hunkered down in their homes, students have been battling the stress and boredom by continuing to interact in school events from a distance. The FIU Student Programming Council hosted a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament with Bravous eSports, and the results were a smash.

Bravous eSports organizes online and in-person esports events for schools and non-profit organizations. 

The tournament was held on Thursday, Mar. 26 through the Bravous eSports Twitch channel. People who were interested in competing had to be a current FIU student and fill out a form that was supplied through the SPC’s social media. The collaboration resulted in positive reactions among competitors, who claim that they would like to see more esports events such as these in the future.

“There’s a lot of FIU students that are interested in watching and competing in games like Super Smash Bros. and League of Legends. I’m sure they would appreciate FIU taking an increased interest in esports,” said Guillermo Garrido, a computer engineering senior also battling the boredom and the stress of social distancing.

Michael Iosue, an organizer of the tournament, was impressed by the turnout of the event, which had 64 competitors. 

Prior to FIU requiring students to work from home for remote learning, students could be found bringing computers to the piano room in the Graham Center to play Smash Bros. and make friends.

“These types of events do help with the boredom. I actually play Smash a lot in the piano room at MMC … It is nice to see actual FIU clubs take up the challenge in running a tourney,” said Lahoud.

As for the results of the tournament, Brandon Rivera, a psychology junior, rose up to the top after a rough start at the beginning of the event. The grand finals resulted in a stand-off between Rivera’s Wii Fit trainer and another student’s Animal Crossing villager, characters from different video games. 

SPC was ecstatic over the turnout and the reaction towards the tournament. 

“We just wanted to give students something to do while encouraging social distancing and staying at home! Our priority really was to keep students safe while keeping them connected to one another and FIU, said SPC’s president, Jessica Horsham.

SPC plans to host another esports event towards the end of the month, a Fortnite tournament, which would be the last online event of the semester.

For more information on how to sign up to compete in the Fortnite tournament and other events, follow @FIUSPC on Twitter and Instagram. 

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