From school struggles to esports’ biggest stage: UK Trackmania player Josh1248 on his Sunderland bootcamp prior to Esports World Cup

Dominic Sacco

5 min read | 22 Oct 2026

An esports player from Yorkshire, who bootcamped at our National Esports Performance Campus (NEPC) in Sunderland, has opened up about gaming leading him in positive directions.

Joshua ‘Josh1248’ Berry, a Trackmania player who competed at the recent Esports World Cup in Paris, visited the NEPC with his mum, before heading out to Paris.

Josh enrolled with Nexus Multi Academy Trust, a South Yorkshire-based entity that offers special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision, and works with British Esports.

During his time at the NEPC, British Esports VP of Operations Alice Whorley and National Team Manager for Great Britain, Jeff Simpkins, supported Josh with some of his arrangements around the Esports World Cup.

Josh1248 told British Esports: “I found it welcoming and insightful, learning about all the different ways esports can help develop a multitude of careers and I found the facilities great.

“I was particularly impressed with the gaming houses and the innovative way they have been planned and taken into consideration what players would need to support them to get the most out of the facilities.”

Josh and his mum also opened up to the BBC in this article about Josh’s school struggles and flourishing esports career, titled: ‘My son wouldn’t leave his bed, now he’s an esports star’.

Josh also told BBC Radio (Newcastle and Sheffield): “When I was younger I wanted to be a YouTuber. I started playing games as a way to get away from life, and it’s led to where I am now.

“I’ve always said my personal strength is hand-eye coordination, I see what I have to do and I can normally just replicate it. I’d say I’m calm under pressure, before a match I’ve had issues but in a match I’m quite chill.

“I’ve had a lot of issues in terms of mental things, and I find the rules of competitions difficult to understand or follow.

“I’ve always been a very competitive person, I’ve previously played competitive Rocket League, and as soon as I started playing Trackmania, I wanted to be one of the best.”

“I started off with smaller team competitions and finding friends to play with, and that escalated to me playing with some of the biggest names in the game.

“If I win the Esports World Cup, I am buying my mum a hoover! That was her idea (laughs).”

The Trackmania competition at the Esports World Cup features a $500,000 prize pool, with the winner taking home $130,000.

Josh finished 13th-16th, picking up $10,000, with fellow UK players Epos and Pac finishing second and third respectively. The overall winner was French player Gwen.

Kalam Neale, British Esports VP of Education, Skills and Innovation, added: “One of the real benefits around esports is the community, the fanbase. For us at British Esports we’re right behind all the British talent representing themselves, their teams and their country [at tournaments like the Esports World Cup]. That’s something we’re really proud of.”

The news comes as the British Arena is set to open, as part of the National Esports Performance Campus.