Wheels Up: Talking Travel, Competing and More With Samsora
By: Zachary Lange
If there’s anybody on eUnited that is racking up some serious sky miles, it’s Ezra “Samsora” Morris.
The 21-year-old from South Florida has traveled tens of thousands of miles in the past six months to compete in Smash: Ultimate. Among some of the highlights are an approximately 10,000-mile round trip to Honolulu, Hawaii in April where he won Kawaii Kon; Los Angeles (twice); Detroit; Toronto, Ontario and most recently Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin where he finished runner-up at Smash’N’Splash.
With arguably the most experience at the airport, I spoke with Samsora to discuss what the average week looks like, balance between competition and family and what he forgets to pack most.
Zachary Lange: Describe what an average week looks like for you?
Samsora: These past three weeks have been three different majors back-to-back-to-back (Get On My Level, MomoCon and Smash’N’Splash respectively).
So typically, events don’t start until Friday so I always fly out Thursday. Usually I’ll just chill out in my hotel room Thursday night because bracket doesn’t begin until the next day.
Usually on Friday it’s only doubles, and a lot of times I don’t even play doubles. So Friday is sometimes a chill day but I’ll go there (to the venue), and play friendlies with people, meet fans and take pictures with them and be a tourist of the area. Since GOML was in Canada and it was in downtown Toronto I went around the city looking at different things and seeing new sceneries.
Saturday’s are the real bracket day where singles start. This is where everything gets serious, where a lot of upsets happen. And usually on Saturday’s I just try to maintain focus because my goal on Saturday is to make it to top-8 on Sunday. You want to make it to Championship Sunday.
Brackets usually last all day, unfortunately, usually beginning at like 10 (a.m.) or 12 (p.m.) to running late at night. So there’s not much time for you to explore the event unless you have a big break in-between matches. Typically, I make top-8. And if not, then it’s another chill day. But these past three tournaments I have made it to top-8, which is good.
Championship Sunday. I wake up, eat breakfast, head over to the venue to warm up for like an hour-ish. Unfortunately, I’ve started out in losers bracket in the past two tournaments, but you play your bracket match and top-8 typically last three to four hours.
After that, Sunday becomes the most relaxing day. Depending on how you feel after you lose. Because after I lose I’m like in anguish for 30 minutes, but soon after that I’m chilling.
ZL: How do you balance all of that with family, streaming and more?
S: You definitely sacrifice some stuff. During one of the majors there was a family event and I couldn’t go because I had to go to a tournament. But overall you just kind of get the hang of it.
Competing Thursday to Sunday, come back Monday, stream Monday through Wednesday, leave Thursday…it becomes a routine. As long as you don’t get burned out, you’ll be fine. But, it’s also not every weekend because my next big tournament isn’t until the end of the month (CEO on June 28-30) so I can recover and do a lot of things I want to.
ZL: If a fan wants to meet you during an event, what day is the best when it comes to your schedule when you’re at an event?
S: Any day is fine, but it’s just best to know when not to ask for a photo. Usually after a player loses, it’s not a good time. When we lose, we just need a few minutes to ourselves to chill out. But other than that, any time is fine.
ZL: If there is one element of travel that you dislike the most, what would it be?
S: I don’t mind flying, but I think the one element of travel I hate the most is missing my own bed (laughs). There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed cause going to the different hotels over-and-over, it’s just not the same sleep that I would have. That’s the main problem.
ZL: What is one thing that you tend to forget to pack?
S: Deodorant. I always forget to pack my deodorant and my belt. But deodorant is not so bad (to replace) because at the hotel you can always buy deodorant so I always have a million things of new deodorant in my room but I just forget it.
Don’t worry, I’m not one of those foul-smelling people.
ZL: (Laughs) I wouldn’t imagine so. Talk about your next event. It looks to be pretty unique.
S: It’s called Paramount. It’s in Long Island, New York and I’ve never been there before. I plan on going to New York City after since it’s so close and (the event) it’s only one day. One day tournaments are the best.
Smash at the Paramount features a $5,000 prize pot and is being dubbed the largest Smash: Ultimate tournament in Long Island. Play will begin next Saturday, June 15. Viewing details are TBA.