A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD JUST BECAME AN ESPORTS CHAMPION

The recent 2020 Pokemon Oceania International Championships VGC Junior Division just took place and it has a new winner. The surprising part isn’t that the winner is a girl, however. It’s that she’s seven years old. In a rather surprising series of events, the young competitor had to take on a 21-time Regional Champion that was twice her age.

The makings of a movie: Simone Lim found herself in the finals of the Junior Division facing off against Justin Miranda-Radbord, a reigning champion in the competitive Pokemon scene. Right off at the beginning, she won the first match, but then lost the second. The final round was to be the deciding moment on who would become champion next, and Lim managed to make a strong comeback and become the new champion. When the match was completed, she just sat there smiling with glee and clearly happy to be where she was. She probably would have kept that smile even if she’d lost.

Accessibility of esports: This is yet another example of just how accessible esports can be for people. You don’t have to be at the peak of physical health or mental growth to make a place for yourself in the industry. Even the youngest of gamers can stand out and win against players with years of experience.

Looks like someone gets to stay up a little later tonight past bedtime to celebrate.

Ryan Goodrich

Ryan has been writing since long before he could even write. He's written resumes, software user guides, consumer electronic reviews, and myriad web content spanning a variety of industries. But now he's writing about video games, which is much more interesting.

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