As much as it pains me to say it, I have well-and-truly neglected this blog for the last five months! If it makes it any better, I feel that I have been absent for a pretty valid reason…
In late January I took on the role of “Operations Coordinator” on a temporary three month contract with Gfinity. As of yesterday, my contract with Gfinity expired following three fantastic months, so I thought I’d throw together a quick post to talk about my time in the role and what a great experience the whole process was.
Gfinity brought me in to assist with two major events that were being organised and delivered during my tenure – the ePremier League FIFA 20 tournament and the F1 Esports Series.
Thankfully, before COVID-19 restrictions were in place, I had the opportunity to tour the country and deliver Club Playoffs at a number of Premier League stadiums. I had a great time throughout this stage of the ePremier League roadmap and found the process of travelling from stadium to stadium, almost like a travelling show, really fun. Whether it be helping the technical team rig and de-rig or assist the league ops team with score reporting, I did my best to get stuck in and had a blast.
Unfortunately, in-between finishing our tour and the scheduled Grand Finals, the COVID-19 crisis escalated and restrictions forced us to postpone the original event. Likewise, the F1 Esports Series had to be replaced with Virtual GPs to make up for the postponement of the F1 race calendar. On top of the existing UK issues, the international nature of the F1 Esports Series meant that competitors would be travelling in from all over the world – a big no no under the circumstances COVID-19 left us in.
As disappointing as it was to have to change our program of events because of COVID, I think the Virtual GPs that ensued have been class. Getting to work with real-world F1 drivers is a totally unique experience I never expected to find myself in, and being able to share the concept of esports with the public and race fans through Virtual GPs has been amazing.
With an altered event schedule because of COVID-19, my workload reduced and I was able to dust-off my writing skills and towards the end of my time as “Operations Coordinator” I supported Gfinity’s new tech site – Stealth Optional. I had a great time working with the site’s Editor, writing pieces relating to games and technology.
Looking back, the experience has been an absolute blast and I feel as if I have been in the role for much, much longer than the three months the contract lasted. I’m immensely grateful to the events department for giving me the opportunity and I look forward to the esports calendar getting back to normal as soon as it’s safe to so I can get back involved.
