The players are nervous and sweating as they struggle to beat their opponent as the venue is completely silent. The crowd screams after a win. Players drink water during breaks.

It’s not a football or basketball game. It’s Genesis 3. The second largest “Super Smash Bros Melee” tournament ever, with 1,828 entrants (only 40 behind the second largest, Evo 2015).

The tournament had over 3,000 attendees. So what? To some, it may seem as if only pros at the highest level attend these tournaments. Jordan Gee, the 60th best player in Sacramento out of the 300 or so seeded from two seasons ago, got fourth in his pools, barely missing qualification, which is top three.

“Genesis was fantastic. It was my first national. While I was certainly sad I didn’t make it to the next round, I feel it’s a testament to how much I’ve improved in the past year. Actually, to be honest, I think I’m top 25 now, but that’s speculation. [I] got to prove it. I want to start taking sets off of [power ranked players] in Sacramento, [but] it’s a challenge,” Gee said.

Gee has been playing since he was about four or five casually, and started getting into competitive around a year ago, when a friend mentioned local tournaments.

“Playing every character [was fun] because at the time all I knew was how to button mash. Nostalgic for that childhood innocence wherein literally just pressing buttons randomly could win matches, I took the plunge into tournament[s]. Both the matches I played were absolute wreckage. One guy was a ranked player in the California region and the other is currently No. 4in smash four. So I got bopped. hard. But it lit a fire under me that made me want to play to beat them and so here I am” Gee said.

Gee plays Peach, the sixth ranked character on the tier list, being only beaten out by Fox, Falco, Marth, Sheik and Jigglypuff. Even the best Peach player in the world, Armada (Adam Lindgren), who won Genesis 3 overall, doesn’t think Peach can win if played exclusively.

“Peach mains, sorry, I think this character won’t make it in this meta. The character is simply too slow, I will always keep [playing] her for certain matchup,” Lindgren said.

However, Gee still continues to play Peach despite her lack of speed and movement options compared to faster characters.

“I play Peach because I really enjoy how her character works. [She’s] very rushdown and yet she also requires an enormous amount of patience to play [in order] to capitalize on your opponent’s play. Actually according to a lot of other players, she’s ‘a moveable wall’ which I definitely heard whilst at Genesis,” Gee said.

Compared to other athletes, many Esports players practice just as much, and Gee believes even the amount he invests in the game isn’t enough. There are “techs” (techniques) that require practice and handwarmers before every game to make sure the players hands are adequately warm to move fluidly.

“Daily I don’t practice as much as I should but I usually invest two to three hours for practicing advanced techniques and specific quirks which is basically bausing Peach’s jumps animation to give her more options in every situation instantly. The problem is, it’s a two frame input sequence, or about 1/30th of a second. Brutal stuff to get consistently but I’m managing with it,” Gee said.

To anyone who knows the nostalgia or remembers this game at all, Gee recommends to play “Super Smash Bros Melee.”

Gee said, “The game really has only affected my social life positively as it has opened the door for many unlikely friendships from all over!. School wise, I make sure to at least do 80 percent of it before playing smash (I blame the other 20 percent on senioritis.) I’d highly recommend [tournaments] to everyone of all skill levels.”