Winthrop to host Rock the Winds gaming tournament next month at Carowinds

Winthrop senior CJ Wiley has worked gaming tournaments before.

However, last year’s Rock the Winds gaming tournament was the first time he’d ever run an event at a venue like Carowinds amusement park.

It’s a good thing that for Wiley and the tournament participants, it was a “perfect” experience.

“Everybody was like, ‘oh man, I can’t wait for the next one,’” Wiley said. “We all had a great time, it was scheduled properly. We had the perfect balance of games and roller coasters. I’m hopefully going in with very minimal changes to the schedule but maximum changes to the way it looks while we’re out there.”

Those “maximum changes,” Wiley said, include spacing the gaming setups better, improving the streaming for online spectators and adding a stage for in-person attendees.

Last year’s Rock the Winds tournament had a $10,000 prize pool across three tournaments: a singles and duos tournament in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and a singles tournament in Rivals of Aether.

After the games were done, participants were welcome to go to Carowinds and partake in the fun, roller coasters and all.

With the event being labeled a “super-regional,” it drew gamers from all over the country to participate including Bharat “Lima” Chintapalli.

Chintapalli came from Dallas to attend the event, winning both tournaments in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and netting a $4,225 payday.

The tournament also gave Winthrop an opportunity to recruit Chintapalli.

Now, he’s a freshman on Winthrop’s esports team and one of 12 members that will be participating in the event from the school. He finished last year as the 29th-ranked player in the world.

“Anytime we can do something that can do something to put a spotlight on esports at Winthrop, (we show how) we’re able to build a program at Winthrop that can compete at the highest level,” said Josh Sides, Winthrop’s head esports coach. “We have players here that have a good shot, no matter who turns out to the Rock the Winds tournamant, of winning it. That’s a good look for us.”

Sides said that the amount of top talent that showed up to last year’s tournament made it a really cool environment for the local gaming community. He hopes to draw more of those high-caliber players to the tournament as the event gets more popular.

The presence of that top talent gave others in the local scene a chance to test their mettle against them.

“Any tournament you get where top competition is going to be, more top competition is going to want to show up,” Sides said. “Especially if we can push the prize pool up and make it an event worth big competitors coming out for.”

“The fact that major, top-ranked players in the world are willing to come to Rock Hill because of something we’re putting on, it says a lot about where we’re at as a program and what Winthrop esports means not just locally and regionally, but on the national stage as well,” Sides said.

This year’s Rock the Winds tournament will also feature three additional singles tournaments: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Street Fighter 6 and HewDraw Remix.

The event is scheduled for April 13-14 at The Grove, an outdoor pavilion in Carowinds and currently has 40 attendees signed up aside from Winthrop players.

Wiley has yet to determine a prize pool but said a decision will be coming soon.

Registration for all tournaments ends at 8:30 p.m. on April 12.