{"id":175280,"date":"2023-04-04T13:23:21","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T23:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=175280"},"modified":"2023-04-05T11:55:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T21:55:50","slug":"esports-tournament-kawaii-kon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/04\/esports-tournament-kawaii-kon\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> campuses battle in Super Smash Bros<\/abbr>.<\/em> at Kawaii Kon"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Two players playing at Kawaii Kon with their match broadcasted online and in person.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A first-of-its-kind esports tournament showcased student talent from six University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> in front of more than 70,000 people in-person and virtually.<\/p>\n

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The UH<\/abbr> Esports booth at Kawaii Kon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The students battled it out over three days of friendly competition in Super Smash Bros<\/abbr>.<\/em> at the Kawaii Kon festival, March 31–April 2, at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Convention Center. More than 20 students from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, UH<\/abbr> Hilo, UH<\/abbr> West Oʻahu<\/span>, Kauaʻi<\/span> Community College, Windward CC<\/abbr> and Leeward CC<\/abbr> participated.<\/p>\n

“The most important thing that we found out is that all the students from the different campuses have begun to interact, socialize and build friendships amongst each other,” said UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports Program Director Nyle Sky Kauweloa<\/strong>, who helped to coordinate the tournament.<\/p>\n

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The Kauaʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr> esports team, led by Rashid Jeff Bernard Araula, with Sky Kauweloa and Kevin Nguyen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports program, which was voted as the top collegiate esports program in the nation<\/a>, won the tournament. Kauaʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr> came in as the runner up. Rashid Jeff Bernard Araula<\/strong>, a freshman at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, served as Kauaʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr>\u2019s team manager because of his close ties to the Garden Island.<\/p>\n

“They did a great job and quite honestly, we didn’t expect to go this far,” Araula said. “I remember talking to them, just taking the game one step at a time, don\u2019t think about the whole series. I’m super proud of them all, for taking this placement and putting Kauaʻi<\/span> on the map for collegiate esports.”<\/p>\n

Top Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> players from UH<\/abbr> campuses<\/h2>\n
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Sky Kauweloa and Kevin Nguyen with the UH<\/abbr> Hilo esports team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UH<\/abbr> students also gained experience playing against professional esports players. All matches were played in person in front of more than 20,000 Kawaii Kon attendees and broadcast online to more than 50,000 viewers. Kauweloa said that people who tuned in saw that some of the state\u2019s top players are students at a UH<\/abbr> campus.<\/p>\n

“It combined everything to make this a really magical experience for all the students, especially our students from the neighbor islands who had never been to Kawaii Kon before, and to experience that as part of the UH<\/abbr> esports tournament was really special,” Kauweloa said.<\/p>\n

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Members of the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports team interviewed after the tournament.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Araula hopes to participate in more events like these to highlight the collegiate esports scene in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n

“The event itself was very surreal and successful,” Araula said. “It felt great knowing that there is a whole community outside of just M\u0101noa for esports. I knew that there was one in Kauaʻi<\/span>, but to be honest, I didn’t know how large the community was just at the collegiate level. It was great talking to everyone from different campuses, and different team leads. I personally had a great time with the Hilo team, as we were the only outer island teams to go to the first iteration of this event.”<\/p>\n

The UH<\/abbr> esports program receives substantial funding from the Academy for Creative Media System<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—By Marc Arakaki<\/em><\/p>\n

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All participants from six UH<\/abbr> campuses<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matches were played in person in front of more than 20,000 Kawaii Kon attendees and broadcast online to more than 50,000 viewers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[112,549,1405,64,65,1466,14,9,947,59,66],"class_list":["post-175280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-academy-for-creative-media","tag-creative-media","tag-esports","tag-kauai-community-college","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uh-system","tag-uh-west-oahu","tag-windward-community-college","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t