Kelsy Medeiros (born May 20, 1995), known professionally as SuperGirlKels, is a Canadian professional ''

Super Smash Bros. is a series of platform fighting video games published by Nintendo. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series is a crossover featuring many characters from other video game series created by Nintendo and other develope ...

'' player. Medeiros's competitive gaming career spanned from 2014 until her retirement in 2023, during which she competed in ''

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and , both commonly referred to together as ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' or ''Smash 4'', are 2014 crossover fighting games developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U video game cons ...

'' and ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...

'' tournaments using the character

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

Biography

Kelsy Medeiros was born on May 20, 1995. From a young age, Medeiros played video games like ''

'' and ''

'' with her family. When she was 16 years old, she decided to attend the ''Super Smash Bros.'' tournament

Apex 2012 Apex is an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that is focused on ''Super Smash Bros.'' The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oya ...

while her family was taking a vacation in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. As she was too young to travel to tournaments, she spent the following three years training through the game's online

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

services. In addition to her activities as a competitive ''Super Smash Bros.'' player, Medeiros previously worked full-time for French game developer

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

. Her younger brother, Jayson "Soar" Medeiros, has also played ''Super Smash Bros.'' competitively and was previously sponsored by

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

team Mirage Esports. The siblings have competed as a team for doubles events.

Career

''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U''

Medeiros formally began competing in tournaments in 2014. Competing in the ''

'' event at

Apex 2015 Apex is an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that is focused on '' Super Smash Bros.'' The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oy ...

, she placed within the top 64 of competitors. Returning to the same event at

Apex 2016 Apex is an annual esports tournament held in New Jersey that is focused on ''Super Smash Bros.'' The event's first incarnation was in 2009 with Jesus "Jman" Fernandez as the champion of ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' and Elliot "Ally" Carroza-Oyar ...

, she defeated top professional Jason "

Mew2King Jason Sheldon Zimmerman (born February 5, 1989), known by his gamertag Mew2King, commonly shortened to M2K, is an American former professional '' Super Smash Bros.'' player from Cinnaminson, New Jersey. Zimmerman is one of the "Five Gods" of ...

" Zimmerman in an upset victory and ultimately placed in 5th. Later that year, she won the ''Super Smash Bros.'' event held at

Lan ETS Lan ETS is a yearly LAN party event held by a student club of the same name from the École de technologie supérieure university in Montreal. It is currently the largest LAN party in Canada and on North America East Coast. In 2013, approximately 1 ...

and placed 33rd at

Super Smash Con Supernova (formerly known as Super Smash Con) is an annual ''Super Smash Bros.'' convention and tournament series held at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The event is held in early August and focuses on the video game series pub ...

. 2017 saw Medeiros place 2nd at Lan ETS, 5th at Royal Flush, 65th at

Evo 2017 The 2017 Evolution Championship Series (commonly referred to as Evo 2017) was a fighting game event held in Las Vegas on July 14–16 that was part of the long-running Evolution Championship Series. The event offered tournaments for various fighti ...

, and 7th at

DreamHack DreamHack is a Swedish ESL Gaming brand specializing in esports tournaments and other gaming conventions; at its root, a massive LAN party and computer festival, recognized by ''Guiness World Records'' and Twin Galaxies as being the world's l ...

Montreal. In 2018, she took 1st place at Lan ETS and placed 5th at DreamHack Montreal. 2018 power rankings presented by esports team

Panda Global The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...

ranked Medeiros as the 100th best ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' player of all time.

''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate''

Medeiros signed with esports team Iceberg Competitive Esports in February 2018. After the organization dissolved later that year, Medeiros told

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

in 2019 that it had failed to fulfill the terms of her contract, including salary payments. In 2019, Medeiros provided

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

's ''

'' World Championship. At the tournament Frostbite 2020, she placed 97th individually and teamed with her brother to place 13th in the doubles event. When a wave of sexual abuse allegations emerged in the competitive community in 2020, Medeiros spoke to CBC News on the need for greater awareness of the issue of abuse within the community. Medeiros announced her retirement from ''Super Smash Bros.'' competition in 2023.

Style of play

Medeiros primarily competed in ''Super Smash Bros.'' tournaments using the character

. A profile by esports publication ''The Meta'' described her play style as "always on the attack, probing her opponent's defenses and lunging for the

carotid In anatomy, the left and right common carotid arteries (carotids) () are arteries that supply the head and neck with oxygenated blood; they divide in the neck to form the external and internal carotid arteries. Structure The common carotid a ...

the moment she detects an opening." Medeiros cited professional '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'' competitor Jeffrey "

Axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

" Williamson, who plays the game with a similar "in-your-face" style, as an inspiration.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Competitive Super Smash Bros. 1995 births Living people Canadian esports players Game players from Montreal Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players Super Smash Bros. for Wii U players Women esports players Sega people Sportswomen from Quebec Ubisoft people 21st-century Canadian sportswomen