Braden Gaul (17) from Arrowhead High School has been playing Fortnite since 2017. “When Fortnite was just getting popular, I decided to start playing and I realized that I really loved the game and started spending hours and hours on it,” Gaul said. What jump started his passion for the game was once he started watching streamers like Ninja and TimtheTatman. He said watching these streamers play truly entertained him and drove his passion for trying to get better at the game.

Gaul is currently Diamond Three, but has been in unreal rank before. Tips he gave were to, “hop into one vs. one’s, train your box fighting skills, editing, and your close range shotgun headshots,”Gual said. He also said it’s important to use hindsight and try to predict what the other is going to do and where they are going to go. It’s also helpful to train your aim and building for a couple hours a day to keep your skills strong. “It works well to treat it like a lifestyle. If you really want to be good at it. Once you get good at Fortnite, it’s actually quite calming to play.” Gaul said. Gaul often plays the game every other day for up to four hours, and spends most of that time ‘sweating’ in solo squads. “When it’s just you against teams of up to four, you really realize what type of player you are, and just how good you are,” Gaul said. 

Gaul has gone through slumps in his career playing Fortnite. “It’s part of the process. One week you’ll be at the top of your game, and the next you’ll feel like you’ve never played,” he stated. That feeling led him to become a talented teacher of it himself. He has mentored his friends, which is clued by the rise of one of his students Jacques Robichaud, who has been Unreal rank now for back to back seasons, and on track for another.