The St. Thomas eSports Club hosted its biannual Smash Bros. tournament for the gaming-related charity Extra Life on Saturday.

Extra Life is a charity related to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals that raises money through gaming fundraisers for children who need critical medical treatment. Since its inception in 2008, they have raised over $100 million for this cause.

The eSports Club has held this tournament every semester, partnering with Extra Life each time. For this tournament, they raised over $160 for the charity.

“If we do something to get involved, it should be something in this community,” eSports Club president Ben Noble said, referring to the eSports and gaming community.

When asked what his favorite part of the tournament was, Noble said it was seeing the eSports club members in person.

“This is the one event where we can meet in person,” Noble said, noting that most of the eSports Club’s events are remote.

“It’s really nice to come out and see all the people at St. Thomas who are passionate about Smash,” winner of the tournament, junior William Stephenson said after the tournament.

Notably, there were some participants in the tournament from outside of St. Thomas, including students from Macalester College and The University of Wisconsin-River Falls, as well as members of the local community.

“This event has grown beyond St. Thomas, which has been very cool,” Noble said.

Stephenson seemed satisfied with his skills after the tournament when asked how it felt to win.

“It’s good to know I still got it,” Stephenson said after the final match, which he won 3 games to 0.

When asked what he would do with his prize, a $50 Amazon gift card, Stephenson said he planned to buy a new humidifier for his room.

Miles Schiffer can be reached at schi9629@stthomas.edu.