Rob Gronkowski Enthusiastic About VR During Youth Camp Experience


New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski’s reputation as a scatterbrained goofball who enjoys having a drink precedes him, but perhaps it’s a bit misstated. He’s a big part of enhancing Boston’s youth community, and it’s shown — he has previously donated $70,000 to Boston public schools in order to promote girls sports, $330,000 to Boston’s Children’s Hospital, and has, for the past five years, hosted a youth football camp in the area.

In this year’s camp, Jaunt VR partnered with Gronkowski and ProCamps — one of the hosts — to produce segments of the event in virtual reality.

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ProCamps and Jaunt were able to film a number of activities at the youth football camp in 360 degrees using the Z Cam for moving shots and the Jaunt One for the rest. Some shots filmed in virtual reality include the opening ceremonies, an assortment of practice drills and interviews with parents and children.

The Jaunt One was also used to capture Gronkowski’s annual spike of a piñata football, which almost turned out disastrously — the camera was nearly broken by Gronk’s smash.

And Gronkowski seems to be a proponent of the 360 degrees experience — he “freaked out” after watching virtual reality footage of the first day of the camp, according to HTC’s Stephen Reid.