The benefits of funded field trips at UON

My experience at one of my course-funded trips

This year 1st year Esports students will get to enjoy a day out at the 43rd Installation of EPIC.LAN in Kettering. The will learn about the different areas and different roles that it takes to run an event of this scale. Meeting head of departments, partnership managers and took a look behind the scenes to the inner workings of certain sectors.

During my first year, we had the opportunity to take a deep dive into the inner workings of Esports Events as a part of their SPO-1053 Esports Event Fundamentals module. As part of the University of Northampton perk offer our trip to EPIC.LAN 43 in Kettering was fully funded.

Where we were given a behind the scenes tour by one of the staff members. We were shown to the main competitions areas which hosted the majority of the games which include VALORANT and Overwatch 2. After this, the students were given an explanation from each head of department and were given the chance to ask any questions that they may have for any department.

There were a wide variety of activities to do which intrigued the students. Some of these included Prize Darts which is sponsored by Intel, and also a motherboard construction contest which required participants to put a CPU, SSD, RAM, and GPU into the motherboard in the fastest time possible. There were also promotions of certain accessories which the students seem to be really interested in and actively looked to purchase to help further their gameplay.

They received a talk from the partners of EPIC.LAN such as Overclockers and Intel which delved into the insights of roles in big corporations and how they are able to influence events. After this the students were given the chance to split off into groups and look at areas they may be specifically interested in. The students chose to take part in this and a lot of them gained valuable insight into their preferred sector.

Funded Trips on my course

During the time on the course, the Esports students get a variety of already funded trips to go on and see how the material they are learning in class is used in the real world. Esports students visit the Event of EPIC.LAN once in the 1st semester to really engage all of the departments needed to run the biggest Esports event in the UK.

They also get to visit the Redbull Gaming Sphere which is home of UK Esports organisation Guild Esports. This trip is to understand better how coaching is used in professional play and how coaches can help players in their everyday lives.

Why are funded trips important?

These funded trips are beneficial, as they give the students the chance to experience the top of the industry and learn how certain practices help maintain optimal player performance. Also it teaches them skills that can be applied to their own lives and life skills. Knowing the cost is covered as part of the course, it also takes away the worry of budgeting towards the trip.

Knowing the cost is covered as part of the course, it also takes away the worry of budgeting towards the trip.

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George Hayward

A 2nd Year BSc Esports student.