More than a thousand roaring fans.
The composed feeling of each competitor.
Exuberant winners and devastated losers.
Surprisingly, a high school basketball game and a professional video gaming competition have much more in common than students would believe.
Sr. Nate Klein’s biggest moment when he was playing in a professional gaming competition was when he was in Anaheim, California playing in the top 3 at a nationwide tournament.
“There were more than a thousand people and it was being streamed in front of thousands more,” Klein said. High school basketball games and pro-gaming competitions have a common fact that thousands of people like to be rowdy over this kind of entertainment. “The audience is pretty loud before and after the game, or during a sick play.” Klein said.
Some competitors feel self-controlled and ready to go; the fans are filled with the same emotions just as the competitors are feeling. “I’m usually not nervous; I’m pretty composed. Big moments were really the only times I ever got nervous,” Klein said. But others are very different. Some feel nervous, have anxiety, and even feel sick to their stomachs. Klein says having confidence and knowledge in the game is key to his success in the games he plays. The outcome of the game has the audience speechless with exhilaration.
The competitors in the game have realized that they have made it this far and knowing that they can lose makes them nervous about how they’ll do in the game. Wondering if they will be the winners or the losers at the end, each player wishes they knew how it would all go down before the game begins. “There never was any negativity from the audience no matter who won or lost. They were usually really excited or really surprised with the come out,” Klein said. A high school basketball team has the same effect on the audience but with more distrust and negative comments against their competitors and fans.
The big tournaments in both games are the most important. Between a professional gaming competition and a high school basketball game, people care about the results of the game. They want to know how you do in the game and the exciting feeling to feel when you have become the winner. Klein gave a brief description of his emotions when he played in one of his biggest gaming tournaments and how he enjoys his hobby of gaming. The resemblance of the hype, the feelings, and the outcomes of a high school basketball game and a professional gaming tournament is fairly the same to what anyone would have thought it would be.