Encino Teen Heads to World Pokémon Championships

By Natalie Rivera

The new Pokémon national champion has been declared, and he lives in Encino.

Gavin Michaels, 15, came home from Indianapolis two weeks ago as the new Pokémon champion, after battling it out for two days, virtually throwing pokeballs and using his Pokedex.

He competed against more than 2,0000 Pokémon players to win the title of the national Pokémon champion.

This year, Michaels competed in the masters division, which is for gamers 15 yeas or older, but has played at the Pokémon U.S National Championships twice before in younger divisions.

Pokémon was first introduced to the world as a Nintendo Game Boy game but then expanded into anime, magna, trading card games and films. Pokémon is set in the Pokémon Universe where there are Poke monsters, a species of unique monsters that can be caught in pokeballs (small transporting devices) and than trained to battle.

Though Michaels didn’t actually battle it out with real Pokémon (because Pokémon don’t actually exist, afterall), he did make it to the top by playing as many as 20 games a day.

“You start to get tired,” said Michaels. “It gets to the point when you lose focus, which luckily didn’t happen to me.”

Michaels’ dedication did pay off as he won an invitation to the world championship that will take place in Vancouver on Friday. He’ll be playing with 50 others from around the world for the title of Pokémon World Champion. The Pokémon World Championship is by invitation only and it is a paid trip.

“It’s exciting. It is the most important championship ever,” said Michaels. “Everyone who is there has done well and they are the best of the best. It’s just an exciting place to be. “

Michaels has been playing Pokémon since he was a young kid and he has always had a fascination with game strategies, about which he hopes to continue learning. Michaels said that his family has been fully supportive and that he enjoys video games, but especially Pokémon.

“I just like strategy games in general,” said Michaels. “Things that you have to know and learn more about interest me more. Pokémon requires more thought than any game out there.”