Junior Japanese major Danny Zollner trained five hours each day for a month before a competition. He is currently the second-best Pokémon trainer in the country, a title he won last summer.

Deep down, Danny Zollner wanted to be the very best, like no one ever was.

But for now, the junior Japanese major will have to settle for being just the second best Pokémon trainer in the country. He said the title, which he won at the Pokémon Video Game National Championships last summer, means almost as much to him as the friendships he’s forged with fellow players.

“I’ve been playing for so long the pressure just doesn’t get to me because at the end of the day, making new friends and hanging out with friends, that’s what it’s about more than the game,” he said.

Zollner’s quest began the afternoon his mom brought home a Pokémon game more than 15 years ago, on the first day of its release in this country. He played for fun, began making friends online with other enthusiasts and participated in his first Pokémon video game tournament in 2010. Last year, he fell one match short of first place, clinching runner-up in the national championship in Indianapolis.

That ranking won him a paid trip to San Diego, where he placed 22nd out of 34 contestants in the Pokémon World Championships in August.

Days, weeks or months in advance, players use math to choose the right items and team of Pokémon characters, raised and trained either by them or others. Trainers then enter their team at the beginning of a tournament and are matched with an opponent where each player uses his or her strategy and predictions to judge the right attack or defensive move — essentially, Zollner said, it’s a more complicated version of rock-paper-scissors.

At the national tournament in July, he based a strategy around two undervalued Pokémon — Zebstrika and Thundurus — and a strategy of causing initial damage while building up his characters’ power. The team and moves were so innovative that when one friend lost to him, he ripped his glasses off and threw them out of shock.

“I was so secretive, not even my closest friends knew what I was going to do,” he said.

But when it was time for the final matchup against dark horse competitor Wolfe Glick, Zollner knew he had little chance of walking away with the championship title.

However, because Zollner had formed so many friendships with other trainers over the course of 15 years and helped found an online community in Pokémon video game fan site Smogon.com, he had vocal support until the last move.

On Smogon.com, Glick later wrote about the competition: “This guy [was] obviously the crowd favorite, when Nick announces his name the crowd goes wild, as opposed to when my name is announced I think if I listened carefully enough I could hear my mom clapping.”

And the trip Zollner won to San Diego was secondary to spending time with the friends he rarely gets to see in person.

Zollner spends less time practicing and discussing Pokémon these days — he used to spend up to five hours a day for a month readying for a tournament but now just prepares for a few hours the week before — due to his dedication to school. Still, he’s proud of his wins and the community he’s built for himself.

“I’ve never really tried to hide who I am,” Zollner added. “I know I’m a bit eccentric.”

The white T-shirt he wears under his black leather jacket and his white baseball cap bear Pikachu designs — although he said, his mouth breaking into a wide grin, he usually leaves both in his closet for safekeeping. And he often slips his hobby into conversation months after meeting new people at this university.

A friend and fellow Pokémon trainer, 23-year-old Chalkey Horenstein of Boston, said his friend has been one of the most genuine competitors he’s met.

“Most of the people who play in the national championships are pretty full of themselves. He’s not,” Horenstein said. “And he’s one of the few people that will actually talk about real things before a match.”

And though Zollner said he quickly made friends after transferring to this university from Burlington County College in New Jersey last semester, he doesn’t take that easy confidence for granted.

By the time he was in middle school, Zollner said he’d developed social anxiety and was a victim of bullying. He also had inattentive teachers who either didn’t care or notice he was always bored in class, leading Zollner to choose homeschooling from sixth grade on.

To prepare for applying to the rigorous Japan Exchange and Teaching Program when he graduates, he now attends weekly International Coffee Hours at this university and questions higher-level Japanese students about the language, said freshman Japanese major Damian Russ.

And due to the $300 travel subsidy Zollner won at a recent tournament — altogether he’s won just under $4,000 in prizes — he’ll have a chance compete nationally again in July.

But it’s the self-assurance he’s gained that have made the games worthwhile.

“Don’t be afraid to be yourself,” Zollner said. “I’m almost 24, and I play Pokémon, which a lot of people would probably give me crap for. And if they do, I don’t really care what they think.”

lurye@umdbk.com