On Saturday, April 23, the Manual Esports team hosted their first “Raise the Level” tournament/fundraiser in the Manual gym. Students and supporters bought tickets at $10 a person for the chance to enter into a Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournament or just to play games for fun, such as Beat Saber or Mario Kart. Fundraising proceeds will go towards lowering the cost of participation fees (which currently stand at $72 per player) and funding things like jerseys. 

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Raising The Level is tomorrow! Do you have your ticket? Are you a manual student? Can you find the esports players in the photo?

Play games with us tomorrow to support manual esports! Register below! pic.twitter.com/QMoCbDlKTt

— DMHS esports (@manualesports) April 22, 2022

Mr. Jury (Math) began the Esports team in 2018. Since then, the team has grown into quite a force in the Kentucky high school Esports scene, winning the state championship last year for both Super Smash Bros and the popular battle-strategy game League of Legends. However, getting the team off the ground has not been easy. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) started offering Esports in 2019 and the organization is still grappling with how to organize this newer and exponentially growing sport. 

The event was well attended and the tournament portion also included other Kentucky Esports teams: Trinity High School, Butler High School, Shelby County High School and Greenup County High School. There were both competitive and casual players present from across the county to help support and have an enjoyable time.

The tournament experienced technical difficulties towards the beginning when there weren’t enough power strips (multiple of the teacher’s new touchscreens were wheeled down for use), but arguably the most notable event during it all was when all of the fuses in the gym were blown and the tournament had to be moved to the Honeycomb lab. (The reporter covering the event was devastated, as he was about to play a game of Smash Bros with Mr. Jury and hopefully beat him). 

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Through power outages and tech difficulty, the grand finals start now between Henry Martin of Manual and Joseph Wright of Greenup County! @ManualAthletics @torrileemartin #gocrimsons! pic.twitter.com/AXhSffv5kE

— DMHS esports (@manualesports) April 23, 2022

Even after the technical difficulties, the tournament continued with Manual’s Henry Martin (10, MST) taking home the trophy. 

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Congrats to Manual’s Henry Martin for his win in JCPS and Manual’s first ever in-person Super Smash Tournament.

Thanks to all who made this happen! ⁦@ManualAthletics⁩ #gocrimsons https://t.co/zHCwKqUNyR

— DMHS esports (@manualesports) April 24, 2022

Overall the event was successful. Jury remarked that the event was, “initially a flop but turned into a slay.”