Want to Bring Your Staff Together? Have Them Smash Each Other in the Kisser (And Wherever Else They Can Hit)!

Submitted by Manasquan River Golf Club

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
February 2008
 

No matter how successful you may be in cultivating a work environment where the staff is close and everyone gets along well, you'll never entirely eliminate people’s urges to occasionally want to throw something at their bosses or co-workers. But if you follow the lead of Manasquan River Golf Club (MRGC) in Brielle, N.J., you can even channel that part of everyone’s human nature into a positive teambuilding experience. Taking a cue from the popular Vince Vaughn/Ben Stiller movie, MRGC now holds an Annual Employee Dodgeball Tournament, with eight six-person, co-ed employee teams competing in a round-robin tournament that eventually crowns one group as the champion that will retain full bragging rights for a year. The winning team is also treated to a special celebration dinner at the club. Attendance is very high for the much-anticipated event, reports MRGC’s Assistant Food & Beverage Manager, Tim Doyle, with the groups mimicking the movie by coming up with inventive team names and uniforms. “Our Clubhouse Manager wanted to find new ways for team members to spend time with each other outside of the workplace, because we think that is vital to the success of any operation,” says Doyle. “This is a great event that gives us a fun opportunity and a different way to boost staff morale and establish rapport with each other.”