I have shared this story with a few people now, so I feel it is probably better I just get it out to everybody.
For those of you who are unaware of who I am, my name is Brad and I reside in South Australia, Australia.
I am an Event Manager by trade, having completed my degree in the field of study at the end of last year. I actually ticked the wrong box when applying for university/TAFE and found myself in Event Management by accident - but that is a whole other story. I work for Adelaide Bite, South Australia's representing baseball team in the national Australian Baseball League and have been for the last two years.
My SC2 profile looks pretty bleak as a player but hopefully more appealing as an administrator. I currently help to run the South Australian Starcraft League (SASL) where we are currently within a 50 player tournament with a $300 cash pool - we will hype up finals! I also am the co-organiser for the first official Adelaide Barcraft. Other than that you may also have seen me casting the wT Weekly or various clan wars, or perhaps seen some of my banner work.
Gaming has been a part of my entire life. I have a brother 10 years my senior and I recall many memories growing up of watching him playing various games, sitting in my chair next to him amazed at what was happening. I even watched him play Starcraft 1 while I chobo'd away at single player at the age of 8.
Now at the age of 21, that passion still lies strong within me. For a long time I have been reserved about expressing my love for esports. People often asked me what events I wanted to run when I finished my studies to which I would reply "something big like a music festival." That was a cool concept but that all meant nothing after I watched this video on youtube late last year.
This is what I want to live for. This is what I want to run.
It was one thing to realise running major esports events was what I wanted to do but being able to express that to people who think gaming is just about sitting in front of a computer for 5 hours going "duuuhh" was quite a big challenge for me. It was only a few months ago I fully embraced the idea, shared it with all my friends and family and it is the soul reason I joined this community.
This community is amazing and I would feel almost powerless in achieving my dreams if you weren't around. There are so many people in this community who I have a lot of respect for and know I will work very closely with in the near future, especially Dox ♥
The reason I am writing this is to let everybody know why I am here and what I want to bring to the community - that is assisting and running SEA sc2 esports events as I develop the skills, contacts and resources required to achieve my dream. What is my dream you say?
My dream is to run the biggest esports event in the world
The reason I want to run the biggest esports event is so I can provide an access for gamers around the world to be able to express their passions unquestionably and unrestrained and be proud to be a gamer. As well as shifting the context society has about what a gamer is - which generally for a lot of people is someone who is antisocial, sits at home and plays games all day staring at a screen losing brain cells.
I will do it! I know I have a long road ahead of me and there are bound to be endless hurdles and setbacks but you have to start somewhere right? I followed the ACL Sydney very closely and seriously I tip my hat to those who ran it!
Please don't hesitate to contact me be it for direct input into an event or just for feedback/advice. I will do what I can for this community. Probably easiest to contact me through Skype, my username is "bradley_baldwin"
Thank you to those who took the time to read this and I look forward to making a difference to SEA and the sc2 world.
You've made some great posts on these forums in recent weeks. I already had some measure of respect for you and now have even more. Thanks for sharing that letter with us and I look forward to meeting you at some events in the near future.
I guess one thing I missed when I wrote this blog was the context behind it all.
Really behind all of this, the reason I want to run the biggest esports event is so I can provide an access for gamers around the world to be able to express their passions unquestionably and unrestrained and be proud to be a gamer. As well as shifting the context society has about what a gamer is - which generally for a lot of people is someone who is antisocial, sits at home and plays games all day staring at a screen losing brain cells.
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