End of Year Bash

OU Esports held its End of Year Bash this weekend, celebrating the year’s achievements and allowing students to gather and play games together before dead week.

The bash kicked off on Friday night with the Sooner Smash Dojo, a weekly “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” tournament for OU students and the greater Norman community. The event was streamed live on the OU Esports Twitch channel.

For both OU students and community members alike, the weekly tournament has brought community throughout the year.

For both OU students and community members alike, the weekly tournament has brought community throughout the year.

“It’s just a place to chill, honestly,” weekly participant Jacob Roper said, “It’s a place to get away from dealing with school and life.”

The festivities continued on Saturday, where party and retro games were available to students. Boomer, one of OU’s mascots, even stopped in to join in playing games such as “Mario Kart” and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”.

Additionally, OU Esports Director Mike Aguilar handed out some of this year’s OU Esports jerseys to some of the leadership that hadn’t received theirs yet, while those who had them rocked them the whole weekend.

“It’s something material that says ‘hey, we exist and we’re official,’” Call of Duty coach Logan “Pralimos” Goin said of the jerseys. “This is a jersey, licensed from OU saying that we’re a department, we’re here, and we’re making new waves in Esports.”

OU Esports wrapped up their bash on Sunday, where party games, pizza, and giveaway prizes were all on the menu. Some students even got a sneak peek at the space that is to become the OU Esports computer lab and gaming venue, currently set for completion next school year.

“I’m excited for the computer lab,” League of Legends Ambassador Brandon Ho said, “because two weeks ago we held a virtual League of Legends tournament. If we could do that in-person, I just think it would be really fun.”

At the end of the night, student leaders facilitated a giveaway to cap off the event. Prizes provided by OU Esports included gift cards for Steam and Playstation, game keys for “Orcs Must Die! 3”, Switch controllers, headsets, plushies and two computer monitors. Additionally, 7 keyboards were given by sponsor Computer Connection for the giveaway.

Before heading out, though, Aguilar made sure to reflect on the year’s achievements and the outgoing senior leadership.

This year, according to leadership, there were 20 articles and 10 videos made by OU News and Media, and over 400 hours of streams on the OU Esports Twitch channel. This is on top of the many events and in-houses put on by the community pillar, and the thousands of matches played by the 12 collegiate Esports teams.

Aguilar made sure there was a moment to acknowledge the two members of OU Esports leadership who are graduating this year, Marketing Director Zach Satz and Streaming Director Matthew Miller. Satz will be attending Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University) to pursue a masters in digital media and Miller will be attending Texas Tech University to continue his studies in meteorology.

The End of Year Bash was a moment to celebrate the community that OU Esports has created since its inception in 2017.

“It’s just a great community,” Goin said,. “We’re setting a new pathway in collegiate Esports, because we’re focusing on structure before winning. So we’re getting built up so we can prolong growth and players.”

“When I first heard of (OU Esports),” Ho said, “it sounded really competitive. But after I joined, it’s a really big community where everyone can get together and enjoy games together.”

Aguilar put it simply at the end of his final speech: