Send a Dutchie to the Pokémon World Championships

Hey!

I'm Willem Geurts, a student and major Pokémon enthusiast from the Netherlands. I recently qualified for the World Championships  to be held in Washington DC this August, but currently lack the means to afford making it there. Although it’s somewhat embarrassing I’m going to have to rely on others to make ends meet and achieve something that means so much to me.

Going to the world championships wouldn’t just be fulfilling a dream of mine, it would be enabling me to do something I love and spend time with people I love more importantly. I do not know whether I’m going to have this opportunity again in the future due to my studies.

I'm willing to hand out any Worlds memorabilia to people who donate on request, as well as potentially reimburse everyone with any prize-money possibly earned. I cannot guarantee I'll make any earnings, but if I do it will be proportionally shared between all those who helped me out. I'm also happy to find, purchase, and ship plushies from Worlds to donaters that aren't able to attend themselves but want one if you send me the additional funds to do so.

If you have any other funky request ranging from me dying my hair to a colour of choice to me giving you a crash course guitar lesson, feel free to shoot me those via twitter too!

If you would like to donate via anything other than credit card send me a message on Twitter (linked below) or here and I give you PayPal or bank details.


About me:

I’m a 19 year old currently living in the Netherlands getting ready to go study at a university. I started playing Pokémon aged 8 when I was gifted a second-hand Gameboy with Pokémon Emerald for my birthday. I recall playing with two close friends of mine in primary school, talking about the animated series and competing with one another in-game despite having absolutely no clue as to what we were doing. Each Friday we would go round to one of our homes, bringing our consoles along with us to then spend the afternoon playing together. These are fond memories of mine.



Fast forward to 2016 and I get introduced to the official video game circuit (VGC) by a close friend of mine. I discover huge tournaments filled with people like me trying to prove themselves and ultimately become the world champion. I found figures within the community who excelled in tournaments, people who I began to look up to much like many people look up to sport-stars. I marvelled at them, and honestly, I really wanted to be like that too. I started practicing a lot, trying to improve myself. During this time I stumbled across the local Dutch VGC community (a great bunch for the record) of which some individuals helped me grow immensely. I was starting to become decent at this silly game I love, and was planning to go to a large international tournament in London late 2017.
Real life circumstances got the better of me unfortunately. I went through a depressive episode and wasn’t able to attend the event which disappointed me a fair bit to say the least. I had been looking forward to it for quite some time and this just served as a reminder how things in my life weren’t at all the way I wanted them to be. I was in hospital for a significant portion of time with nothing to do, so I played a lot of guitar and Pokémon despite the fact I couldn’t compete. I hadn’t given up on that just yet. I’m glad I didn’t. I’ve managed to overcome a lot of issues and my life is now headed in a direction I’m happy with. Having pieced it back together I decided to attend a tournament in Frankfurt for fun not wanting to disappoint myself with a bad result. I ended up placing top-8 to my own amazement. I then proceeded to win a number of smaller local events, and recently I placed top-32 in the European international championships thus earning myself an invitation to attend the world championships. I was now competing with and against those I once, and still do, look up to. I'm finally actually pretty close to  realising this once far-flung goal of mine.

I’m so close. Yet I’m also pretty far.

As a student in my final year of secondary school I have been limited in the amount of time I can earn funds. I attended both Frankfurt and Berlin on a pretty rigid budget, and got transport dirt-cheap which enabled me to compete in the first place. Prior to this I also wasn’t in a great spot in life, my time in hospital put me behind in class and a lot of my focus was thus required there.  I’ve met amazing people through this game from all around the world and it’s served as source of fun I can be passionate about even throughout some times I didn’t feel that for almost anything. It’s more than just a game to me, and this event is more than just a tournament. It’s a chance for me to do what I love, be with people I love, and prove to myself I can obtain the things I work for.



How the money will be used:

Any funds donated will go towards my flight tickets to Washington DC as well as my general costs for staying there such as accommodation, food, and any activities beyond the championships themselves. As the championships are in August I have a limited window to raise funds and book the necessary things. The goal price is just a general estimate, but I should be able to travel for less.

I don’t think I can word just how grateful I would be for any donation. If you feel like doing so, feel free to message me on twitter @AbsurdityVGC  and I’d be happy to help you out with anything Pokémon or guitar related :)