From left to right: Zachary Northcutt, Ethan Marcotte, Lucas Cropp, Cooper Morris, Liam Morgan, Connor Marcotte and Maya Anderson in front of The End Games, 374 Hillsdale Drive, Charlottesville.
In Saturday’s William Monroe High School esports fundraising event at The End Games in Charlottesville, the Dragons raised $345 through entry fees and donations to put towards the purchase of uniforms for the growing team. Coach and WMHS English teacher Mike Kelty was surprised to learn Monday morning that Shane Borrelli, co-owner of The End Games and sponsor of Saturday’s event, had donated an additional $900 to the team to help bring their vision into reality.
On Saturday, March 5, William Monroe High School student Zachary Northcutt competed in a Super Smash Brothers tournament to benefit the school’s new esports team.
“The generosity is overwhelming,” Kelty said after the announcement. “The plan is to get these uniforms ready for next month so that we can come in to the next tournament wearing the uniforms that the store made possible. Any money left over from the purchase of uniforms will go to purchasing two more Nintendo Switches so that we don’t have to rely on students to bring in their own to race in Mario Kart.”
Ethan Marcotte (grey shirt) was among the WMHS students who came out to support his friends during the esports team fundraiser on Saturday.
Throughout the afternoon Saturday, esports team members along with friends and members of the community faced off in one-on-one Super Smash Brothers matches, forming a bracket that led to the awarding of custom Nintendo trophies—purchased by Borrelli—to the winners.
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Store owner Shane Borrelli procured custom trophies for the Super Smash Brothers tournament Saturday.
“The fundraiser exceeded even my wildest expectations,” Kelty said. “The kids had a blast, the matches were competitive, new friendships were made and I never dreamed that we would raise enough to fully pay for uniforms. The whole experience was incredible.”
Maya Anderson (yellow shirt), who competes with the Smite team for esports, came out to try her hand at Super Smash Brothers during the fundraising tournament on Saturday.
Seven students from WMHS participated in the day’s events, including some who compete in different games—Maya Anderson is on the Smite team and Cooper Morris is captain of the Rocket League team. Ethan and Connor Marcotte, twin brothers who just finished playoffs for the WMHS wrestling team, joined in for fun to support their friends in esports.
Top row (L to R): Zachary Northcutt, Liam Morgan, Ethan Marcotte, Connor Marcotte. Front row: Maya Anderson, Cooper Morris and Lucas Cropp participated in Saturday’s fundraiser.
In the past week, the Dragons played another eight matches in four different esports, winning five of them. Rocket League team 1 beat Lord Botetourt High School 3-0; team 2 beat Bath County 3-0; and team 3 beat Louisa County 3-0. In Super Smash Brothers, team 1 beat Heritage High School 2-0 and team 2 lost to Forest Park 0-2. In Mario Kart, team 1 beat Peach County High School 2-0 and team 2 lost to Seminole County 0-2 (both from Georgia). The Smite team fell to McCreary Central High School out of Kentucky (0-1).
All eight sub-teams are scheduled to compete again this week, after press time.
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