WHS student takes gaming to new level

Bailey Bair, Sports Editor|January 31, 2018

Miles Hellebusch competes playing Street Fighter 5. “One time I fought a guy named Momochi who is a famous Japanese Ken player and he is one of the best in the world [at Street Fighter], "Hellebusch said. Hellebusch has been gaming competitively ever since the release of Street Fighter 5. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Miles Hellebusch competes playing Street Fighter 5. “One time I fought a guy named Momochi who is a famous Japanese Ken player and he is one of the best in the world [at Street Fighter], “Hellebusch said. Hellebusch has been gaming competitively ever since the release of Street Fighter 5. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org

For the majority of students, as soon as the final bell rings they rush home to try and relax from the hectic school day. This involves laying in bed watching Netflix, playing on their phones or playing video games. For one local student, this hobby developed into so much more.

“I’ve been semi-professionally [gaming] for about a year,” sophomore Miles Hellebusch said.

Competitive gaming has risen to the mainstream in recent years. Competitions are held all over the nation and worldwide.

“Tournaments are held in a lot of different places, but the biggest one is called Evo and is held in Las Vegas,” Hellebusch said.

Evo is an opportunity for the best gamers in the world to meet up and play against each other. There are nine different games people are eligible to compete in at Evo: Street Fighter 5, Tekken 7, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Injustice Two, Super Smash Bros Melee, Super Smash Bros for WiiU, Blazblue Central Fiction, The King of Fighters XIV and Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3.

“I’ve been to four competitions including three in St.Louis and I went to Evo once,” Hellebusch said. “When you fight people stronger than you, it’s fun because if you even take a round on them it’s a pretty great feeling.”

However, tournaments require a lot of skill for players to have to even be eligible to compete.

“The tournaments in St.Louis are a lot smaller and you can go to them either by being invited or by joining a pool,” Hellebusch said. “A pool is where you fight a bunch of people and the more wins you get the farther you go.”

The farther you make it in the tournament means the more money you can win. At Evo, the first place prize for competing in Street Fighter was $20,000 in 2017.

“I’ve made about $200 at one tournament,” Hellebusch said.

Although he has only made a small amount so far, Hellebusch and the rest of the gaming community recommend other students take up this activity to reap the real benefits.

“My favorite thing about gaming is that there is always something new to enjoy,” Hellebusch said, “especially with updates because there are more things to read and more play styles to fight, and it always gets new people into the game, which is always good.”