Latest news with #SuperSmashBros.Ultimate
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mt. Aloysius hosts Pennsylvania high school students for esports finals
CRESSON, Pa. (WTAJ) — High school athletes across Pennsylvania traveled to Mt. Aloysius College to compete in a statewide finals for esports. The PIEA Grand Finals had over 160 players from 36 different schools across the area compete in video game matchups in Rocket League, Valorant, Overwatch 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The weekend-long competition will crown the top individuals in each game while educating the players in careers and opportunities in the world of esports. 'Mountie Esports is super excited to have everyone here,' Mt. Aloysius Esports Head Coach Sean Steffy said. Players got a chance to watch others compete in each matchup via the viewing room or in person. If not competing, the players socialized and bonded with one another over the sport that was not mainstream in years prior. 'The growth is seen year over year,' Seth Mason, the founder of The Esport Company, said. 'It's exploding. And the number one fact I'd like to see as well, that really makes this tie into the schools and the youth, is70% of students who report here in Pennsylvania aren't involved in any selectivity, except for the esports program. So this is engaging a whole demographic of kids that have been overlooked for the past 25 years.'The competition runs until Sunday at 6 p.m. You can watch the livestream here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
St. Francis honors former coach with tournament, career fair
LORETTO, Pa. (WTAJ) — St. Francis University hosted an esports-focused college and career fair to honor the legacy of their inaugural coach. The Luke Trotz College and Career Day saw 14 high schools across the area participate in three video game tournaments: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Overwatch 2, and Rocket League. If they were not playing, students could talk with colleges that offer esports programs, take a tour of the campus and learn about careers related to video games. The fair was named after Luke Trotz, the first head coach for the St. Francis esports team. Trotz died in the summer of 2021 but left a trail of programs blossoming in Central Pennsylvania. 'Without Luke Trotz, there wouldn't be an esports program in this area,' Central Cambria's Esports coach and event organizer Lisa Urbassik said. 'There wouldn't be one in this entire part of Pennsylvania. He helped us start the majority of the local programs. He started most of the college programs, at least nudging them along. He was really the driving force in this area.' Nonprofit partners with Drone814 to save lives in Central PA The careers shown to students ranged from video game design, computer art design, STEM and STEAM programs. 'It's a big door of opportunities for everyone that's around this kind of thing,' Homer-Center junior Katie Fairbanks said. 'They have different fields of technology that you can go into, which is really surprising and really cool, honestly in my opinion, from a younger generation's perspective.' 'Esports is really showing the digital, the media, and all of the opportunities that are out there for them,' Urbassik said. Not only do those careers entice students but teach them valuable skills through the world of video games to level up in life. Through the event, multiple players from different teams caught up with one another, but some stayed back at their schools to participate in the event. The relationships grew with these students outside of their gamertag. 'It really does bring it to a whole another level,' Urbassik added. 'It lets them meet up.' 'Even the career abilities to how to be a part of a team, how to critically think and how to be able to do multi-step things,' Forest Hills esports coach Ben Grove said. 'That's stuff that's maybe taught in schools, but applying it into real-world scenarios. I think that's where for Esports, that's the biggest component in the selling point for any organization that's here today.' Grove, a close friend of Trotz, sees the impact he has made on teams across the county, with his logo, Trotz's initials LT with a red halo above it. Each time he sees that logo, he is reminded of the work he did to create a community inside of his own. 'There's a lot of weight behind that and what Luke stood for,' Grove said. 'Values, integrity and character. All of those things matter so much for what a student needs to be beyond just playing a game. It's those life quality characteristics that matter the most.' Prizes were given to winners of each tournament, with one student winning the Luke Trotz Award — a scholarship given to the student courtesy of the Trotz family. However, Grove finds the event more to be an open door to a community and a chance at growth rather than being the champion. 'I think that's a big bonus to giving them a place in a home where they have an identity, and that's what Luke would definitely wish to see here today,' Grove said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
174 players compete for $2000 at ‘Almost Heaven' Smash Bros. tournament
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — One of the most popular party video games got serious in Morgantown on Saturday as 174 players from across the east coast vied for more than $2,000 in prize money at the 'Almost Heaven 6' Super Smash Brothers tournament. According to several players at the event, Almost Heaven 6 is far and away the most competitive Smash Bros. event in West Virginia history; many of the state's best Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Melee players were competing on Saturday, along with several out-of-state players who are in the top 100 global power ranking for Smash Ultimate, including Syrup (#14), Zomba (#21), and Mr. E (#66). Justin 'Hawk' Rosa, the vice president of WVU's Smash Bros. club and the #1 ranked player in West Virginia, said the event is the best way for players and organizers to show off West Virginia's gaming talent to the rest of the country. 'Our goal essentially is to give West Virginia players an opportunity to show their skills against some of the best players in the world,' Rosa said. 'We have multiple top 100 players in the world and they've all come to see what West Virginia is about and see our event, and we couldn't be more grateful for that.' Caleb Hoffman, a WVU alumni and the tournament's head organizer, said the club began reaching out to top players back in November to encourage competitors from out of state to make the trip. Over the years however, the tournament and its organizers garnered a reputation of their own, which Hoffman attributes to good old-fashioned West Virginia hospitality. Life beyond the cosmos? WVU holds screening of 'Small Town Universe' documentary 'It's incredible to see the growth. Just two years ago, when we ran this event, we had a 70-person bracket. This year we had to cap the entrants allowed because we were worried about the fire safety, so it's crazy to see how fast it grew in popularity,' Hoffman said. 'West Virginia hospitality goes a long way in our smash scene—anyone who comes out of state, we give 'em a free pepperoni roll for driving. We give our top players a free pepperoni roll for winning the tournament. So it's all about that hospitality. I think that's what we do differently than other scenes.' Although the Smash Brothers club at WVU has seen great success at Almost Heaven 6, club members say getting to this level of success and visibility was a time-consuming effort, requiring years of build-up at the grassroots level to prove they could run their events well and have the players to back it up. If you want to learn more about competitive Super Smash Bros. in West Virginia, you can follow the official account on X, or follow the WVU Smash Ultimate club page here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
