Across The Pond
Professor Pro has been playing competitively for quite some time but was held back from improvement by one major factor. "I've been technically been playing competitively Melee for about 9 years. But I was that guy that every region has, who is known for never EVER traveling and I stayed in London for pretty much 7 years which as much as I love my home city, isn't the best practice."
His rapid improvement began at BEAST 4, two years ago, and he still has crystal clear memories of the event. "I FINALLY decided to leave my country for literally the first time in my life and went to BEAST 4 in Sweden. I pretty much mark this event as the day I actually got into high level smash. My first European tournament I was in Leffen's pool to give people an idea of how much I've improved in 2 years of playing in this environment AND that tournament I went to was the first tournament Leffen beat Armada to put it more into perspective."
With him slowly beginning to travel, he began to slowly improve being first recognized for his Project M play moving in Melee until he made his major mark on the world in 2015. "I think my biggest breakout moment was at Paragon LA when Hungrybox beat me in PM and then I beat him in Melee," he explained. "Loads of people came up to me and said, 'He beat you in your game and you beat him in his' but I've literally never seen it that way, because I've always been a Melee player first."
Professor Pro vs Hungrybox Paragon LA 2015
Even though he has begun traveling, the environment he has to train in has brought about issues for him as a player. "I think my biggest weakness is never being pushed in Melee in the region which I'm from, which reverts me back to this very careless mindset, which then throws me off when I actually play good people, which is bad," he told us. "I need to literally play for like 2/3 days in that environment to switch it off. It's really hard in a region where you are the strongest by far and the strongest players in your region (Fuzzyness and Vanity Angel) don't even play that much. Every single time I come to USA, and I actually switch that mindset off, I really find myself taking in knowledge, improving and just gaining a better sense of everything in Smash and I love it."
Which players is he most looking forward to fighting if he makes it to Smash Summit 2? "Of the players which are already invited, I think I could solidly take Shroomed, Plup, SFAT and Silent Wolf. I'm pretty good at mentally collecting information so with a lot of the other players I think I would need to sit down with them for a while to gauge how I would do. Of the uninvited players and also including how I'm improving, I feel I could take all of them and PewPewU and Hax would be the hardest out of all of them for me."
His final words for those to convince them he deserves the votes? "From watching the previous Summit it's an event which personality and performance are both important and being the only British guy who's running for this I know I can make it interesting for the viewership from both areas. So if you want to see nationality diversity with a UK player and a British accent on the couch with a technical and explosive player who always has something to bring, prove and will definitely bring personality, you should definitely vote for me!"
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Want to see Professor Pro at Smash Summit 2? Voting for the first phase ends March 4th at 3PM PDT so be sure to go vote for his entry into the Smash Summit. Agree or disagree with his case to join the event? Tell us in the comments below and don't forget to stay tuned to Smashboards as other stars make their case to enter Smash Summit
