Welcome to SuperChamps Academy
SuperChamps Academy is the ultimate proving ground for young athletes of every sport. It’s where characters in the SuperChamps universe go to train and hone their individual powers to become sports superstars and compete at the highest level. Students at the Academy study all the usual subjects (and many not-so-usual), but the primary focus is their core sporting event. Like a traditional boarding school, students live together in dormitories, balancing training, studying, sporting events, and social life.
Every sport is celebrated as a worthy life endeavor at the Academy. Tennis, for instance, is so popular that there’s not just one team, but five. Each team has its own captain (or co-captains) and unique team chemistry. Team DropShot has won the Academy’s “Golden Racket” in three of the past five play-offs. They win through skill diversity, dedication, and an inexplicable amount of luck.
Here’s a quick rundown of Team DropShot’s “Starting Six” Tennis Champs:
Ichi-Ni
Co-Captain of Team DropShot, Ichi-Ni is a born athlete with innate skill and confidence. He doesn’t take much seriously, but is poised and effective when shit hits the fan (which it always does when Ichi-Ni is around). Not one for overthinking, he likes to shoot from the hip, and often gets away with it. He can also be charming, cocky, and impetuous. Great at getting himself into trouble… and out of it most of the time.
Ichi-Ni’s tennis play-style is pretty much all intuition. No plan, no strategy. But he’s so good at reading opponents and performing under pressure that he’s a born champion. He’s also got a temper (Exhibit A: banned for life from the Brontokyo Fairgrounds Racketfest).
Born and raised in the tennis-crazed town of Uchi Waza, Ichi-Ni comes from a working class family of non-athletes who see sports (and everything except martial arts) as a waste of time. He’s grown up pretending that he doesn’t care, but would it really kill his parents to come see one of his matches?
One of the Academy’s most successful athletes, Ichi-Ni could be at the top of the popularity pyramid if he wanted to. But he has zero interest in the rich and popular crowd. He’d rather hang with his ragtag team of misfits – Kigu, KJ, Frunka, and the others. Sport, adventure, and team is all that matters.
KJ
KJ is Team DropShot’s other Co-Captain. She’s a classic overachiever. Plucky, ambitious, fiercely competitive. And loyal to the team without reservation. Her intense seriousness often makes her a stickler for the rules. Teammates call her “Mother” when she gets a little bossy, and “Officer KJ” when she goes full gestapo.
She’s the team’s closest thing to an “adult in the room.” She’s often the first to grasp the seriousness of a situation while the others are screwing around. Ichi-Ni, in particular, drives her nuts. She bites her tongue as much as she can since they’re co-captains and it’s her job to keep the peace. But good god, he can be infuriating. She might also have a wee bit of a crush on him. Though she’d be the last to admit it.
She comes from the idyllic, seaside tennis town of Nimbleton, where she grew up in the shadows of three older sisters, all tennis stars. So if she acts a bit like she’s got something to prove, she absolutely does. Her bedroom shelves are buried in trophies; but they never seem to be quite enough.
KJ’s play-style is strategic and methodical. She follows a rigorous regimen of incessant practice. She watches play-by-play videos of opponent teams. She is always prepared. Except when her opponent is a total wild card (e.g, Kigu playing blindfolded while riding his pet warthog)
Kigu
Everyone on Team DropShot thinks of Kigu as a little brother. He’s high-energy and pestering, deep into ritalin territory. But he can be a total demon on the tennis court – on the rare moments when he’s focused on the game. One minute he’s slack-lining across the top of the net, the next he’s using his racket to dig for gold. Butterflies and cell phones are his kryptonite.
Kigu’s tennis play-style might best be described as Hyperactive Mayhem. Wacky pranks, acrobatics, and total nonsense often result in victory… not that he even notices. The last time he won a trophy, he attached wheels and made his StegaDroid tow him through the Mall.
Kigu lives in Brontokyo, a thrumming metropolis that loves its tennis almost as much as its cybernetic sauropods. Kigu’s mom, dad and twelve older siblings all smother him with affection and adorn the walls of every room with his tennis awards. Kigu thinks they make excellent bowling pins.
Tsu-Tsu
Tsu Tsu is Team DropShot’s undisputed fan favorite. She’s confident, poised and always camera-ready. A sassy K-pop sound track seems to follow wherever she goes. But don’t let her flashy fashionista guise fool you…she’s a stone cold killer on the court. She’s made a fool of countless opponents who underestimated her. Aside from a spa day streamed to her Insta-fans, crushing opponents is her favorite pastime. At school, even the most popular girls wish they were Tsu-Tsu. She pretends not to notice.
Tsu Tsu’s game is graceful, even balletic; she plays tennis with passion and artistry that seems at odds with her off-court life of social media selfies and mani-pedis. In tennis matches, her performance seems effortless. But don’t be fooled. Every day, she’s on the court at first light, and again after school, mastering every move when no one is watching.
Born into one of the most prominent families in Wispwood, Tsu-Tsu was raised to worship status and success. She has earned her parents’ approval, if not their affection. She would like to stop pretending one day, and let everyone know who she really is. If only she could figure it out herself.
Lupey
The two things Lupey loves most:1) winning and 2) pretending that he doesn’t care about winning. He makes up for what he doesn’t have in natural tennis ability by being cunning and getting into his opponents’ heads. And he’s very very good at it.
Lupey is conflicted about playing on a team. Any team. Who can you really trust? He feels most at peace when he’s holed up in his cliffside garage, tinkering with his collection of Jet-Devils (illegal street-racing hover-bikes). But there’s something about those wankers on Team DropShot – Ichi-Ni, KJ and the rest – that keeps drawing him in, despite himself.
An only child of San Dogeyo scions, Lupey was shipped off to boarding schools from an early age. He only sees his parents on holidays, which is fine with him. He likes to pretend he’s forgotten their names. His one claim to fame at SuperChamps Academy (other than his tennis game) is that he’s racked up more detentions than any other student in the school’s history. And he managed to sneak out of most of them.
Frunka
Frunka is Team DropShot’s power player. If you can look past her perpetual griping, and her obsession with all things frankengoth, Frunka is an unstoppable force of tennis terror. While she may lack style and finesse on the court, she’s got incredible strength and stamina. She frequently breaks rackets on the serve. And her volleys are just as deadly: more than one opponent has been carted off to the infirmary with a tennis ball concussion.
The oldest of three siblings, Frunka grew up in the mountain village of Zomberg, where tennis was seen as a sport for “posh valley folk.” Not that her parents gave it any thought at all. They were always on the road, traveling with their mutant vaudeville troupe performing A Corpus Line.
At SuperChamps Academy, Frunka is seen as a bit weird and frightening. People tend to get out of her way. This is exactly the reaction she’s hoping for, of course. But she also sort of resents it.
Look out for more updates on the Starting Six and their antics soon!
