Organization Spotlight: Super Smash Bros. Club – The Cauldron

BY ASHLEY MOTT
Arts & Entertainment Editor

The smash of thumbs on a controller and occasional grunts caused by a loss or mistake are all sounds that Aidan Zapotechne, a sophomore computer science major is very familiar with. Having grown up in an era where GameCube and other Nintendo systems were the hit of the ages, Zapotechne’s love of the game started at a young age.
Fast-forward to spring 2018, and you’ll find a young freshman looking to find his place on Cleveland State University’s campus. Searching for a way to plug-in to the social circles, Zapotechne explored the surrounding areas and came across a Super Smash Bros. club at Case Western Reserve University. After spending some time there, an idea sparked — an idea that upwards of 30 other people at the university would come to love.

Zapotechne reflects back on his freshman year remembering how excited he was to start his own Super Smash Bros Club after visiting Case Western. “I said, ‘You know what, this has got to exist here at CSU,” Zapotechne said. Setting out on a mission, Zapotechne then got in contact with Cleveland State’s Conference Services department to see if he could rent out a table in the innerlink. While normally this is only given to established student organizations, after a long train of emails, a table was secured. “It was just me at a table with the GameCube controller and an empty seat for someone to come up and play me,” Zapotechne said, remembering the day that it all started. Little by little people would come up and play him in the interlink, giving fuel to the embers that were just starting to come to life. Once the fire was lit, there was no stopping him. As the spring semester came to an end, he quickly used the summer months between the spring and fall academic semesters to secure his vice president, Patrick Maloney; treasurer, Justin Willard; secretary, Christin Li; and faculty advisor, Rachael Stephan. While it wasn’t easy to start networking with people when he had no idea where to start, Zapotechne’s advisor’s words rang in his mind as he pushed forward. “She said, ‘The number one thing you can do is get involved,” Zapotechne recalled. Taking those words to heart, he continued on after finding his board members, to start on contacting people to determine how to make the organization official in the university’s eyes. However, it wasn’t as smooth sailing as the process first started out. Originally contacted by the Cleveland State Recreation Center, Zapotechne was informed of the opportunity to become a new e-sport through the rec center. The idea being that they would be able to receive funding, booking space and work solely through the rec center for events. While this seemed great in theory, put into practice, it wasn’t all that great. According to Zapotechne the rec center dodged their efforts to hold meetings, events and other activities at every turn.

“Most new sports through the rec [center] don’t really get funding,” Zapotechne said, frustrated.