Seizing Opportunities

My name is Bee and I'm a final year student at Edge Hill University completing my BSc in Business & Management. Throughout my time at university, I have expanded my content creation brand, joined the VALORANT influencer program, started competing in VCT Game Changers EMEA, won the VALORANT Women & Non-Binary (W&NB) All Stars Winter split and became a student ambassador for SteelSeries.

I have been gaming for over 25 years (please no boomer jokes); I still have vivid memories of my stepdad booting up the PlayStation 2 when I was just 3 years old to race me at Gran Turismo 3 and SSX Tricky. I'm terrible at racing games but it opened the doors to the multitude of worlds and universes that make up video games. From there, I picked up games from well-established franchises like Pokémon and Assassins Creed, and dipping my toes into League of Legends and Overwatch. However, in late 2021, after spending 2000 hours playing Apex Legends, I decided to give VALORANT a try and since the end of 2022, I have been competing as a professional VALORANT player and have recently signed with Formulation Gaming and am currently competing to promote to the Main Event of EMEA (Tier 1 equivalent for VCT Game Changers), but I have also represented HEROIC Valkyries as their sixth player during Stage 3 of 2023.

It's been a pleasure to see how many opportunities there are for students who enjoy gaming. Throughout the four years of my studies, I have participated in NSE's League of Legends, Overwatch AND VALORANT tournaments, both in the W&NB and co-ed circuits, which have given me the ability to meet other students from my university who enjoy competitive gaming, as well as building connections with other students which have grown into strong relationships within the esports ecosystem. Furthermore, for the past few months I have had the pleasure to be a student ambassador for SteelSeries through NSE and they have provided me with the gear, networks and opportunities to develop my interests within the gaming industry further - this includes creating short form content, promotional livestreams and blog posts like this one! They supplied me with the Apex Pro keyboard and Alias microphone which has been essential in making sure I have the best gear for competing and communicating with my team – the microphone especially has helped with being able to easily talk to teammates in my games and the ability to be able to mute with a swift tap on the front of the device has come clutch when you have flatmates who like to party outside your accommodation door. The software that accompanies this is incredibly easy to use and you can customise your gaming experience to your own wants and needs. If you are passionate about gaming, I cannot go on enough about how amazing these opportunities are for competing in tournaments and creating meaningful networks that can lead to graduate employment. This ambassadorship has already helped me to secure several interviews for graduate jobs once I finish my degree this summer and I can't thank SteelSeries enough for this opportunity.

Balancing competitive gaming with my studies has been a challenge at times to be completely honest; attending a full day of university lectures and meetings to then come home and do 5-6 hours of practice with my team, prioritising what essentially is my job now over socialising with my university circles and organising my time properly so I can balance both university deadlines and tournament dates has been difficult. However, I have loved every minute of it and do not regret it and I genuinely think pursuing competitive gaming while studying is a lot more forgiving than while you're in full time employment; the caveat to that being if YOU are disciplined - education and real life still comes first. Like with any hobby, being able to find a balance that fits well with your schedule and other commitments is incredibly important for your mental health. University can feel very overwhelming at times, so having your own version of escapism can really help with getting through those challenges.

My advice? If it's important to you, you can make it work. Get in touch with your students union and relevant societies, join the NSE Discord and get involved like I did with the Steelseries ambassadorship! It can and will be hard at various points of your academic journey, but these few years of education are pivotal in shaping meaningful connections and taking advantage of opportunities designed just for students - just for you! Seize these opportunities, enjoy the experiences, but hold yourself accountable. You are a university student so there are still assignments to hand in and exams to study for.

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