Photo courtesy of Quentin Headen
A heartbreaking loss in the third round of the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate gaming tournament has The Kraken hungry for more competitions.
“It is a must that we bring that State Championship Title to Riverside,” said sophomore Marcus Rippe. “We have been close to winning it every year and we took a State Title in STEM, but this is our year to win both titles simultaneously. We got this.”
The Kraken is Riverside’s E-sports team. Founded in 2016 in room 240 by Quentin Headen, an instructional assistant and head coach of Riverside E-Sports program, and his wife, the classroom was an arcade for students to hang out in and play games. The E-sports team grew to around 50 members, then shrunk during the pandemic so they were down to 30 players in the team but only 11 players were active in the team so the majority of the kraken team is offline .
Covid limited access to the arcade room, but kids still played video games together at each other’s houses but soon after Headen discouraged it due to social distancing.
The Kraken competes in regional and state STEM competitions. Last year, sophomore Marcus Rippe’s 3D model of the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship won first prize in a statewide 3D printing competition. Senior DJ Hernandez also designed a computer-controlled robotic arm that could pick up a soda can that reached the state championships in the robotics division.
The team has also reached state championships for games like Mario Kart, NBA 2K and Super Smash Bros. Junior Donovan Gaddy, sophomore Serenity Pierce and junior Bergon Torian have both brought home awards in regional and state tournaments. And last year, junior Benjamin Zeechman finished fourth in the state in a bracket full of seniors. His performance earned him an invitation to UCLA in California.
“They flew him out there and also gave him a room for him and his mom to stay in California,” said Headen. “He did an internship program where he was actually doing their social media for the school.”
The team is now verified by the state as an official E-Sports team through staypluggedin.com.
“This means, we are now linked with 137 Colleges throughout the US,” Headen wrote in an email to Riverside’s faculty on Oct. 30
The Kraken plans to keep competing at a high level in both STEM and video game tournaments while also exploring other opportunities in engineering, healthcare, technology, graphic design. and creative writing.
The team also performs community service projects, such as a supply drive for families impacted by Hurricane Helene and an outreach trip to Eastway Elementary School.
“There’s a lot of avenues now open up for our kids,” said Headen. “It proves one of the points that I came up with years ago. Not every kid is an athlete, but they’re all great in a certain way, and we just have to find it.”
Students interested in learning more about The Kraken, E-sports and opportunities to explore healthcare, technology, engineering should talk to Headen in room 240 or Pierce, Hernandez or Rippe.
¨My shout out goes to these kids and goes to these students here at Riverside for at least going out on a limb and taking that leap of faith with me,” Headen said. “It’s worked out all right.¨
