It has been a long journey for the Marist esports team, one that culminated in a Super Smash Bros tournament this May.
The team traveled to Texas in hopes of showcasing their skills to schools from all across the U.S. in the Collegiate Esports Commissioners Cup (CECC), which includes 320 teams, 185 schools and well over 1,500 of the nation’s best esports competitors.
On May 3-5, the Marist esports team started the tournament with a win to beat 14th-seeded Sacramento State and 24th-seeded Michigan Tech University, but the team ultimately fell to the no. 3 seed Northwood University and 11th-seeded Oakland University.
“We played against some of the nation’s best collegiate teams and it was an experience we will never forget.” said senior Vincent Fermo. “We are extremely grateful for the opportunity and hopefully, we can qualify and return for next year’s competition.”
The Marist esports team has shown that they have what it takes to compete on the big stage. As an ever-growing club sport, they compete within the MAAC conference. Typically, Smash Bros is played in a single-player format, but MAAC competition requires Marist to play in a 5v5 format.
The MAAC Conference hosts an annual esports tournament that includes MAAC schools such as Marist, Quinnipiac, Siena and Rider. Since 2022, it has been hosted at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J.
Fermo, who goes by the gamer tag StinkyCheese782, has been the captain of the Super Smash Bros team for two years and an esports team member for three. He explained the nuances behind how his team qualified for Texas.
“The school that placed first [in the MAAC] was Quinnipiac and they already qualified through a different tournament and different league,” said Fermo. “They deferred their qualifications to the second place team, which was us.”
With Marist not having as robust of an esports program compared to many large schools, the team did not initially expect to make it to Texas. Other schools offer scholarships for esports players; those players are considered legitimate athletes at other schools, while at Marist, esports is considered a club sport.
Schools such as University of California – Irvine (UCI), Columbia College, Miami University and others offer scholarships that will cover esports players’ tuition in the form of renewable scholarships.
Growing the Marist esports team is a huge undertaking. While Marist isn’t fully at the point of giving out scholarships and designating the players as athletes, the players are hoping that one day in the future, once esports gets more recognition that it will get there.
Evan Spillane, who is the team president, makes sure that everyone has the proper equipment, work space and proper guidance. His primary role is to share the success the program has had and promote the growing esports program at Marist.
“I am looking forward to the opportunities that will be available to students as the program goes and becomes more supported.” said Spillane. “We can hopefully recruit great players, and offer financial support through esports scholarships to exceptional students and players, as well as expand our esports space on campus.”
Isaiah Rettig is a junior at Marist College and fulfills an integral role on the Smash Bros team. Rettig explained that in Atlantic City last year, Marist was only seeded fifth; his event was more competitive this time around.
“This year was intense, because last year I was just one of the substitutes, it wasn’t my job to be a starter and winning games. This year at Atlantic City, I was the active captain,” said Rettig. “When you are waking up that early to compete it sets a different mood, there is a lot less sightseeing but a lot more practice.”
The esports team reached the championships through rigorous dedication and hard work. Retting carefully considers player performance and potential when selecting who will represent the team in each competition.
His primary focus is on ensuring the team remains undistracted, concentrating solely on attaining the right mindset for victory in every game. With each player starting out with three lives (stocks), players must prioritize preserving their stocks at all costs since the winner of the game is whoever can take out their opponent’s three stocks first.
“While there is a bunch of research [on] who sends in who, the second you are sent in, I need [you] to erase all of that completely and just play the set,” said Retting. “If you are thinking, ‘alright I just lost this stock,’ now we are down one point and you are thinking that, you will play unwell.”
Highlighting Marist’s Texas roster was Shane Seeley, one of the best players that Marist Eeports has. He practices three or four hours a day and he helps out other players when they need it. Seeley has even taken his talents on the road at times to gain more reps, and has used his skills to make income.
“That’s a big motivation for me to compete and practice more because I started making decent money just by playing in a decent amount of tournaments.” said Seeley. “I’m trying to get people on our team to realize that they can compete well if they travel and practice more.”
Marist is just getting started in their quest to become an esports powerhouse, and if this year is any indication, the groundwork has been laid for a bright future.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Photo Courtesy of Isaiah Rettig
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