Phil Winterbauer — Esports 

Phil Winterbauer never knew receiving a GameCube from his parents at age three would be the start of his gaming career. 

"I played Pikmin, which is a story-based game rather than a competitive game," Winterbauer said. "But in 2015 I got my first PC that was able to handle some of the esports gaming so I could get more competitive."  

He said that Minecraft was at its highest peak around that time, and he would play on the mode based off of the book The Hunger Games. He also played Counter Strike: Global Offensive.  

"CSGO was the first game I was actually decent at," he said.  

As a member of the Skippers' Esports team, however, Winterbauer competed as a Rocket League player. A couple of the players were forming a team, but when their third player dropped out, they needed to find a replacement.  

"I had had them on Snapchat because we went to the same high school and they were a class above me," Winterbauer said. "When they released the info for Rocket League at SC4, I thought why not give it a shot."  

After reaching out to his former high school classmates, they were quick to welcome him to their squad.  

"I didn't know much about the game, but they let me come on and they mentored me," Winterbauer said. "I decided to take a shot in the dark and see where I could, and it turned out to be a really good decision."  

After finishing his first full Esports season, Winterbauer said he enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones through their common passion for gaming.  

"It was awesome it was something I'd done casually after I came home from school, but being able to go to a college and do something like gaming which I've enjoyed my whole life, it's an experience I'll be able to take with me for the rest of my life," he said. 

Esports not only offers Winterbauer the change to hang out with friends, but he said it also gives him a break from the monotony of daily life. 

"With gaming, it kind of started off as escape from reality," he said. "It was the constant routine of: go to school, come home, eat, go to sleep, and repeat. I could kind of tone out what was happening in the real world, and moving on in life, that really reigns true for me. You hear people talking about so many issues, it's kind of overwhelming. Gaming is a way to kind of escape that." 

Along with improving his gaming, Winterbauer also been able to explore his natural inkling for computers. While at SC4, he's taking his general education classes with plans to transfer to a university for computer information science. He said in high school he taught himself how to build a computer and would like to work in an IT position in the future.  

"I took a couple of IT courses at St. Clair RESA and really enjoyed that," he said. "And I've built my own computer and a couple of computers for my friends." 

While most people wouldn't even attempt to fix a computer, let alone build a new one, Winterbauer said it's become almost second nature for him.  

"I had seen videos and I didn't think it'd be too hard, but it was pretty hard for the first time," he said. "But I was able to figure it out and after doing it once it kind of became second nature."  

From gaming as a three-year old to building computers in his teen years, Winterbauer's love and knack for technology is sure to take him far.