Last summer, just before school started, three of my friends and I competed in a Halo 2 Professional Gaming Tournament. Our team consisted of Chad (whose screen name is FR3SH), Ryan (KROSMO), my cousin Aaron (AIR_RUN), and me, as the team leader (E1EM3NT).

When we arrived in Chicago, we were in disbelief that this was really happening. One thought ran through our heads: This could be our big break, our chance to get into the pro gaming world. When we finally got to the venue, we saw thousands of people packed into a room the size of a large gym waiting to see the tournament. Lights, huge projection screens, and thousands of TVs lit the room. Gamers jeered at each other to show that they just beat the other person. Teams were taunting each other loudly.

Everyone walking down the rows of TVs had an Xbox controller in their hands. The game play was intense with bullets flying past your head, the opposing team trying to kill you for points. The layout of the TVs was back-to-back so the teams couldn’t see each other’s screens, and each four-man team had two TVs with two players per screen. Then our team name was called and we ran to that station and set up to begin our round.

The games were arranged with the higher seeded team choosing to host for two of the three games. The winner was determined by the team that reaches 50 kills first (or who has the highest points at the end of the round). First we had the practice round. We were paired with a few renowned pro teams like FBI Michigan, FBI The Agency, and one team that was sponsored by Game Stop and EB Games. In our first game against FBI Michigan, we lost by just three kills. In our second match against FBI The Agency (ranked seventh in MLG stats) we lost by five points.

Our first ranked match was against Team XiT WoundZ, which ranked tenth in MLG Stats; we won by 13! Shortly after winning this first match, we lost to 5 2K. Since the tournament was a double elimination, we had another chance to redeem ourselves, which we did – until we lost again, which landed us in sixtieth place (out of 250 teams).

During the intermissions we all tried to beat a professional called Lil Poison in a one-on-one game; none of us succeeded except Ryan. Since he beat a pro, he had his picture taken. While we were competing, we were offered to be sponsored and coached. We would have taken the deal, but lost the business card on the way home.

As we drove home we all had one thought in our minds: Just wait ’til next year.