If you’re an internet fiend like me, there’s a common meme phrase used by some in the soccer (or football) community. It goes something along the lines of “Can they do it on a rainy night in Stoke”. This meme started in reference to Lionel Messi, who some critics claimed could not be the greatest player of all time if he was playing in the Premier League (England’s Division 1 League). When I was younger I loved soccer, and I loved playing FIFA, which was one game in the long list of different ones I became obsessed with as a child. During this time I heard this phrase and thought it was hilarious, as the idea that so much could be different on one rainy night, in the middle of a random lowly-populated city in England…

Little did I know that I was about to prove I could do it on a rainy night in Stoke…

So Fast forward a bit, the year is 2022, I am now an active Super Smash Brothers Melee competitive player, and I am competing in this circuit called “The Smash World Tour” (SWT). The big thing about this circuit is that there are these so called “Platinum Events” which occurred in different regions and were worth a lot in the circuit. Do well at these events and you would qualify for the SWT Finals. I really wanted to qualify, and realized that in the US, there was too much stiff competition holding me back, as my past few platinum events I entered I got 17th, and no where near enough points to cement myself in the rankings. However, I had one little trick up my Sleeve, I looked at the list of Platinum events and saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I knew my family had always wanted to go to Europe…and well there was a Platinum Event right in England for me to attend. This tournament existed so that European players were given the chance to qualify, but they were encouraging North American talent to come. I was able to convince my family to take this trip, where my parents would go to London and spend the weekend there, and I would travel north…to a little city called Stoke-On-Trent.

So with the context out of the way, what made this trip the best trip of my life. Well in terms of excursions it was awful, Stoke-On-Trent had virtually nothing to offer, no vibrant nightlife, no fun activities during the day, no excellent dining options, and no sights to see. If I were not there for a Smash Brothers tournament I would have fled to any other location on any train out of the city. However I was stuck there, and enjoying my time is what I set to do. The thing that I ended up doing was hanging out with the European Smash talent that I had vaguely met online before that period. I met super cool people from Sweden, Spain, France, England, and more. I even met for the first time some awesome American talent that lived in far-away lands such as California or Chicago. We especially bonded during “The World Cup Crew Battle” which is a format where each country in attendance sent 5 of their best players to play games against each-other with one country coming out the winner. I was the captain of Team USA, and we ended up taking the whole thing over the home nation of England! This was my first taste of the wrath of the British Crowd, as they chanted things like “WHO THE F*CK ARE YOU??” to some of my teammates, and the somehow more vicious “YOU PAY FOR MEDICINE”. The crowd involvement here was something I had never seen in the states, and it made me so much more excited to compete in front of the rowdy British crowd.

I proceeded to lose! I lost to the #2 in England Frenzy which put me into losers earlier than predicted. I fell into a really tough headspace after this loss. I thought “Wow, did I really travel to England just to get 17th”. This whole trip was made with the goal of securing a ton of SWT points and I was about to leave with barely any, but then I took some breaths. I remembered that I was there not to stress about results, but to have a fun time playing some of the most interesting people in Europe. So i focused on that…and well..I started winning.

I played an intense set vs the Best Doctor Mario player in Europe *WHO IS ALSO FROM THE NETHERLANDS* off of any main stream. I won 3-1 which let me proceed past 17th. Then for 13th I had to play one of the best players from Germany, Rikzz. Who brought me to a very intense game 5, however with some quick thinking and good reactions I was able to scrape by and get to a top 8 qualifier, which is considered the main event of every tournament. Before this event, I had never reached top 8 of a tournament with over 100 people, now with an event which had multiple hundred I was competing against the best player in Switzerland, Jah Riden. He was coming off of a very long run himself, and we both wanted the top 8 spot very badly, however I had a ton of experience playing his character back in the states, and this led me to a 3-0 win and my first ever top 8.

If my run had ended 7th I would not have written about it. Top 8 was always a dream of mine, but making top 8 wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to play in top 8, I wanted to win in top 8, I wanted to make the whole crowd go crazy over what I was doing, and I had my first ever opportunity of having hundreds of people watch my gameplay live on stage.

As scared as I was, the second the game started I felt this wave of excitement cancel out any fears I had about my performance. The crowd was obviously behind their countryman, however due to how loud I had been over the weekend, and overall good sport most people viewed me as, there was no disdain towards me and just a fun atmosphere through the crowd. They cheered when I hit crazy combos, and they cheered when Tino hit his. I won this set 3-1, and was super excited to continue playing, that is until I saw my next Opponent.

I was incredibly nervous going into this set, after playing for many long hours and being locked in with my music, I knew that I’d be able to relax and tap into the calmness that only loud pop music blasting into my ears could bring me. However something, truly hilarious occured before the start of game 1. As I was putting on my headphones to help deafen the crowd, they died. My airpods had died. This was, without a doubt, one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me in this situation, and I literally just laughed on stage about it. So I took them off, put them in my bag, and realized I was going to be facing the brunt of a loud crowd during one of the most intense sets of my life. I proceeded to have to hear every scream, yell, chant and noise levied at the gameplay behind me during this set. I was worried but honestly it made me more excited, I played so focused, and was able to barely scrape my first ever top 30 win in the most tense ending I’ve still ever experienced in my career. This was my last win of the tournament but I think my reaction gives away exactly how I was feeling.

I ended up getting 4th, which is still my best placement at a tournament this large. It is the first time i’ve truly played in front of a crowd, and left me with one of the most impactful moments of my life where I truly felt like I had finally done something I’d dreamed about as a kid. After losing my next set I took a break, went outside and it turns out it was drizzling rain. I laughed my ass off when I remembered that stupid internet meme a from when I was a kid. Guess I was able to do it on a rainy night in Stoke.