Union University’s Residence Life hosted a FIFA tournament that began on Sept. 1 at 12 p.m. and concluded with a winner on Sept. 4 around 11:55 p.m. Participants included 13 residential and non-residential students.
A week before its start, the FIFA tournament was just an idea Res Life had in mind for the future, according to sophomore sports management major and resident advisor Levi Shaw. However, with the FIFA 18 release date, Sept. 29, quickly approaching, Res Life decided to host the tournament as soon as possible.
Posters went out and the sign-up sheet went up within a few days of the tournament’s start date. By the time the tournament was set to begin, Res Life had about 13 students signed up to participate.
The tournament was randomly seeded, single elimination, with a time table to complete each game, and the players could choose to play on either a PlayStation or Xbox. The individuals competing against one another had to collaborate on whose place the game would commence. After each game, the players had to relay the results to the RA desk in the Bowld Commons, and the winner would advance to the next round. Failing to communicate the winner would result in the elimination of both players. The winner of the tournament received a free copy of the new FIFA 18 game at its release.
“I really enjoyed the FIFA tournament because I like playing FIFA and I like meeting people,” said junior Christian ministry and missions major, Josh Leamon, who participated in the tournament. “I would definitely do future Res Life events like this one because I had the opportunity to do both of those things!”
After four days of game play between the 13 students, it came down to Andre Silva and Anthony Russo competing for first place. After a hard fought game, Silva overcame Russo and won the tournament, beating Russo 2-1 in the final match.
“Res life hosts events such as this to get different groups that wouldn’t normally hang out together, like athletes and guys in fraternities, to go to each other’s rooms and hang out,” Shaw said. “We’re planning a 2K basketball tournament soon, which we will hopefully have more of a heads up on, so we can get more students involved.”
