The Association of Diversity in Sport hosted a FIFA soccer tournament at the Isenberg School of Management on Saturday. The event drew about 50 people with the hopes of taking home the top prize of the soccer jersey of their choice, a trophy and a $30 dollar Sunset Grill & Pizza gift card.
Plenty of pizza and drinks fueled the four hours of gaming through the projectors of the business school. For the admission price of five dollars, contestants had unlimited access to the food, drinks and, of course, the games. The event was sponsored by Sunset Grill & Pizza and Monster Energy Drinks.
“It’s worth more than just playing or meeting new people,” said Tyler Williams, a junior kinesiology major, vocalizing what appeared to be popular sentiment among tournament players. “It’s all about seeing who’s the best.”
Though it was the first time he participated in a FIFA tournament himself, Williams said he was up for the stiff competition.
At the end of the day, Marcos Ruiz, a freshman management major, took home the top prize and bragging rights after cruising through the final rounds with relative ease. Ruiz won his quarterfinal and semifinal matchups with a combined score of 7-0.
While it was Ruiz’s first time participating in a video game tournament, he said he liked the competition, and the prospect of taking home the soccer jersey of his choice made the decision to play an easy one.
“It’s cool because it’s hard to get online here,” Ruiz said on the difficulty behind connecting an Xbox to Eduroam.
Ruiz won the final as France, overtaking his opponent playing as Spain, with a final score of 2-1. His top request was another Arsenal F.C. jersey to compliment the one he wore for the competition.
The tournament was the first of its kind for the ADS, which also hosts events such as the McCormack sports management career fair and the UGames sports video game tournament, both of which were held last semester.
Stephen Black, a sophomore sports management and marketing major, said the idea for this tournament came from the success of their UGames competition last December.
“The first tournament had a lot of people call for more FIFA,” said Black. With turnout attendance around 50 for their last tournament, Black said the goal for Saturday was for more than 40 contestants to participate Saturday, a goal he was pleased to share they surpassed.
As the community service director for the organization ADS, and a FIFA player himself, Black was satisfied with how the event went.
“It ran really smooth, there was great competition, great turnout and great feedback,” he said.
Other members of ADS were pleased with the event’s showing, with several freshman members saying they enjoyed both the FIFA tournament and their work with the club as a whole.
Andrew Rumney, a freshman sports management major, worked as the event day operations coordinator.
“It’s awesome,” Rumney said about the group. “The club’s full of really cool people, and they make it really inclusive.”
Because of the day’s success in the eyes of both the players and the hosts, another video game tournament may be on the horizon for ADS. With competitiveness abound and no shortage of FIFA players on campus, the coming semesters should provide ample opportunity for gamers to check out the competition for themselves.
Will Soltero can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @WillSoltero.
