FITNESS. FASHION. FOOD.
Passion To Carrier
by Barbara Sike
3rd May, 2018
Rugby games in Cardiff. Team finals in Nottingham. Elite training shoot in Gloucester. Every day is a new adventure in the life of this young man.
“The best part of my job is diversity – every single day I work in different sports, with different people in different places,” says Ben Gordon, also known as the marketing guru at British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).
Despite his young age of 22, Ben has been offered a prominent role of the Content Marketing Coordinator just after his graduation, and in a small team of two, he is now responsible for the social media communications of all university sports within the BUCS.
“The only thing I am sure of is that I want to work in sports.”
Ben has been living and breathing sports from an early age. As a kid, he says, he played every and any sport that was available to him, with a particular interest in racket sports. Yet the two that kept him hooked were football and cricket.
“I would play football in the winter and cricket in the summer.”
Sports meant more than a just physical activity to him. At the age of 10, he volunteered as a play-leader, delivering sports sessions and games to younger kids in his school.
Ben travelled back and forth between 10 cities in the UK for work / Map by Barbara Sike via GoogleMaps
Ben graduated from Nottingham University Geography with Economics course / Photo from Ben Gordon
Ben was also present at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games: he was a ballboy at wheelchair tennis and a kit carrier at the Olympic athletics.
“When athletes warm up on the track they would take off their warmup kit and drop it in the basket I carried. It was good fun being around them.”
Fast forward to his university years, Ben became elected sports executive at Nottingham University, as the Events and Marketing Officer.
Ben started to volunteer for BUCS during his years in Nottingham, as a regular member on BUCS Big Wednesday – one of the biggest events in the university sports calendar – and later in the World Universities Games as a communications officer.
Despite his long list of achievements in sports, what he is most proud of reflects another quality of his: being a maximalist.
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“It is my school grades. I’m one of 3 children, I’m the middle one. My older brother always had straight As, he was good at sports, etc. The bar was set high, and I used that as motivation to perform well in my studies.”
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Lazar Zindovich, Ben’s co-worker at BUCS says he has been a great addition to the team.
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“Ben is very versatile, picks things up very quickly and delivers to a high standard. He knows what he wants and works for it.”
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“He hides his Essex accent really well. And he won’t admit to using hairspray” he added.
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Although his plate is full, he is never too busy to prioritise his health and fitness. Ben shared his top tips to stay healthy on a busy schedule:
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Consistency – In training and diet. Half of the progress is just walking through the gym door. Get on a schedule, wake up earlier or use your lunchtime to squeeze the workout in.​
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Balance – You can still go out and enjoy a good meal, but keep a good balance.
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Research – Know what you are doing, so you are not wasting time on the unnecessary.
