Gaming club is set to hold first esport tournament
By: Griffin Bengraff
Staff Writer
The HVCC Upstate Gaming club is kicking off their first esports Tournament on October 26th in the BTC Auditorium 5-11 p.m. with free food, raffles and cash prizes.
The event will feature the hit game Smash Brothers, with side games that include Halo, Overwatch, Dance Dance Revolution and more. There will be free food, a raffle, $5 doubles elimination tournaments and a cash payout for the top four placing.
The whole day will be livestreamed on Twitch featuring esport commentators. The finalists of Smash Brothers and the top two teams of Overwatch will be at a podium in the auditorium playing on the big screen. For those who want to find out more or get details about registration to complete, the Upstate Gaming Club meets every Friday 2 p.m. in the cafeteria.
The club will be having these tournaments once a month. Different games will be selected to be second tournament games and a monthly vote will be cast by the members to see which game will be played.
The Upstate Gaming Club already has over 50 unofficial members which makes it among Hudson Valley’s largest clubs. Club advisor Joseph Stenard had heard about the increasing demand to start the club and worked closely with the students. “The founders saw students with an interest [in] gaming and thought they could start a club to do it together, share ideas, discuss favorite games and compete,” Stenard said.
One of the founders, club president Caleb Tollisen, has seen massive success, ranking 4th best in competitive gaming in the Capital Region. “Because of his success and enthusiasm he sees first hand how it brings people together and how they have a great time,” Stenard said.
The spotlight has been on esports and competitive gaming across the world, with controversy about whether or not it’s a legitimate career or sport.
Talking about the controversy over esports, Stenard believes that watching baseball players play baseball is no different than watching players compete playing Halo or Fortnite.
“Back in the 60s people were all going crazy about watching Bobby Fischer play chess on TV,” Stenard said, “If esports are weird, it’s just as weird or just not as weird as anything else.”
The club originated as a fork of the Anime and Gaming club into a Super Smash Brothers exclusive club. After consulting the student board they finalized as the Upstate Gaming Club.