A few days after competing in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournaments at Genesis 6, David “Seibrik” Silberberg made an announcement on Twitter that proves he is on his way to achieving his career goals in Smash. Seibrik tweeted, “As an FIU alumni I’m HONORED to have been selected to be the HEAD COACH for the @EsportsFIU Smash Bros Ultimate team!” This has been a long time coming for Seibrik as he has been playing Super Smash Bros. competitively for nearly 14 years. Throughout those years his relationship with the game has grown from competitor to commentator and, most recently, to coach.

His first introduction to Smash was in 2005 with Super Smash Bros. Melee on GameCube. Seibrik and his friends down the street, fellow Smash players NickRiddle and ESAM, would mainly play the game in the infamous ‘1-on-1, no items, Final Destination’-style. Seibrik became frustrated with his inability to get better and looked towards the internet for guidance. With the help of early combo videos on YouTube and participation in the forums at SmashBoards, Seibrik would be introduced to a competitive world that would change his relationship with Smash forever.

“Those videos showed me what some characters could do. And that was eye-opening for what was possible in the game. It super inspired me to be like, “what can I figure out about these characters?” What was once a fun fighting game about various Nintendo characters launching each other off-screen became a technical obsession with improving one’s ability to excel in the finer points of the experience. “I can’t really describe exactly – Honestly, I’m not exaggerating – how monumentous seeing those videos for the first time was.” 

Smash Career in the Making

Seibrik, born-and-raised in North Miami, began attending local tournaments around South Florida in 2005. Starting with Melee, Seibrik learned to hone his abilities against fellow fighters by diligently competing in the three years leading up to the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii. “In Melee, I only ever got top 5-ish. Not even -ish, best ever was top 5. Usual average, was 13th, 17th, whatever, depending on wherever I would go in Florida.” Things changed for Seibrik once Brawl was released, however. “I actually started winning in Florida pretty much anywhere I went. 2 years, I wouldn’t lose. Very rarely would I lose. Even if I would lose a set, I wouldn’t lose the tournament… Brawl was my best game.”

The release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U brought with it the largest character roster in the series so far. Unfortunately for Seibrik, this was the title where he experienced what he would call a “character crisis.” “I had a large character crisis pretty much throughout the entire game. Where it was only ever like 3 months at a time where I might focus on one character or two of the same character before switching it up in some degree.” Out of seven characters – Mario, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Shiek, Meta Knight, Mega Man, and Cloud – Seibrik struggled to establish a main he could reliably choose in a set.

Going into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Switch, Seibrik is making an effort to address his character crisis. “It’s the biggest thing for like my Ultimate career that I’m trying to work on. Just finding a character and trying to stick with it.” Seibrik competed in both singles and doubles tournaments of Smash Ultimate at Genesis 6 with Palutena as his main. Out of more than 2,100 players, Seibrik ended his run in singles at 193rd place. Out of nearly 400 teams, Seibrik and his doubles partner DFEAR ended their run at 65th place.

Playing at national tournaments is a wildly different experience than playing at local weeklies where you’re generally familiar with the pool of players in attendance. “The biggest difference is you don’t know who the hell you’re playing against. At least in South Florida even if I personally might not have ever played them, I’ve probably seen them.” Seibrik describes it as something of a mind game; you simply don’t know who you’re up against and you have to be prepared no matter what. Learning to push through that doubt and being able to excel despite “not knowing” is an essential component to becoming a great competitor. “The not knowing part is the real test of skill at a national.”

Competitive Inspiration in Commentary

While Seibrik has been competing in Smash for more than a decade, he participates on the commentary side of the scene as well. Whether it be as a guest commentator on stream at Smash Conference or conducting a retroactive analysis on the results of South Florida weeklies on “The RUNBACK!” series for his YouTube channel, Seibrik loves to discuss the technical and analytical aspects that make up competitive Smash Bros.

It’s fair to assume that competing and commentating are distinct parts of the competitive Smash experience, but that’s not the case for Seibrik. “The analytical part of it is in my competitive part. I talk about the game in that way because I see the game in that way.” Commentating is another way Seibrik grows his in-game abilities. Watching the game from an analytical perspective provides him with further insight on what is possible and can give him ideas to improve upon in his own matchups. “I love talking about it because I usually get to expand on ideas that I maybe didn’t think about before or think about enough.”

For Seibrik, competing and commentating go hand-in-hand in order to help him achieve his ultimate goal of becoming the best. “Winning a national is my dream at the moment. I want to be a great commentator and be known and everything, but that all is supplementing my desire to win a national and be the best.”

A Constantly Evolving Challenge

Seibrik has worked diligently for the past 14 years to make his dreams come true, but real life comes first. “That has always been my goal. To never let Smash affect school and never let Smash affect my professional career.” Maintaining a healthy balance between personal relationships, a professional career, and a Smash career is one of the greatest challenges Seibrik faces. “I have to balance – after work – practicing smash, going to actual tournaments, personal relationships that I still want to maintain and be able to see certain friends once a week or twice a week, time with family…” It’s a lot to juggle and there’s a lot of pressure to maintain all of these equally important aspects of his life.

Seibrik works 40 hours a week, sometimes more than that. Even though his job flies him around the country to trade shows, giving him the opportunity to play Smash weeklies in new areas, it still means he’s missing out on 40 hours a week to practice the game. “I’m sure anyone that has a full-time job can attest to this. That’s why one of the reasons I have crazy respect for HungryBox is that I believe he does have a full-time job on top of what he does… I want to understand how.”

So what’s next for Seibrik? His first big event as Florida International University’s Smash Ultimate Head Coach happens at the Collegiate Starleague Qualifier on February 23rd, hosted by the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. This means Seibrik has a few weeks to get his team at FIU prepared to compete with players from various colleges across Florida. While the short preparation time is a concern, Seibrik has hope and believes in his team. “I just hope I can make a deep enough impact in these couple of weeks to help them get into the next round, and if not I still look forward to meeting up with them every sunday and moving on to next season.”

It Starts At Your Locals

Like all coaches, Seibrik has some advice for people who want to join the competitive scene either as a competitor, a commentator, or simply a supporter. “It all starts with your locals. Either supporting the local scene just by showing up and paying the door fee or going to your locals and entering the bracket.” Seibrik’s advice for those who want to be commentators focuses on being a genuine individual. Seibrik says to them, “think about who they like listening to most or what they think they’re best at, and just hone in on a certain thing and make it your own thing… There’s nothing better than hearing someone on commentary that just sounds authentic.”

Seibrik also had a message for the parents of children who want to compete at local tournaments. “It is the equivalent of going to your kid’s baseball game… Your child, your teenager, whatever they’re doing, it’s a really good feeling to see that kind of support… The dad or mom power behind you is huge.” Seibrik encourages parents to go with their children to these events to support them and see the kind of people that make up the Smash scene. It means a lot to have your parents or loved ones supporting your interests at young ages.

Seibrik himself had an “uphill battle” with convincing his father about the legitimacy of his Smash career. While his competitive Smash habits were never completely discouraged, Seibrik’s efforts were dismissed as something silly. Seibrik felt the need to demonstrate to his father, a huge sports fan, that competitive gaming is essentially the equivalent of a sport. “What started turning the wheels in his head was when I actually was winning in Brawl and coming home every week or every other week with $300 in my pocket.” Now, Seibrik’s father shows more interest in Smash. Sometimes taking the time to sit with him to watch a recorded match of his or the times he’s commentated on stream. “It sounds childish to feel excited about getting that kind of support but I have seen parents that support their kids – like they’re at the tournament – it’s insane.”

Even if you have no interest in competing but care about watching or supporting competitive Smash, Seibrik still encourages you to go to your local tournaments and gaming centers. “By actually showing up to the events, you’re going to increase the spread of the games that you love.”

You can follow David “Seibrik” Silberberg on Twitter and YouTube. Seibrik does scheduled Smash Ultimate lessons in his spare time and you can contact him via Twitter for more information.