The Tokyo 2020 Olympics should have been underway by now, but sadly due to Covid-19, they have been postponed until July 2021. This is the first time the Olympics has ever been postponed.
Olympic Facts:
This would have been the second time Japan has hosted the Summer Olympic Games. The first time was in 1964, although they have also hosted Winter Games in 1972 and 1998.
The 2016 Summer Olympics Games, featured 28 different sports, including golf and rugby for the first time.
The 2020 Olympics would have featured 48 sports, with many new additions for the first time, including, karate, surfing, sport climbing.
This year, 206 different nations had been expected to attend, with 11,091 of their athletes taking part.
The first modern Olympic Games was held on April 6th 1896, where 280 athletes competed.
They have been staged every fourth year since 1896, apart from during the two World Wars.
Over 45.24 million people watched the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics on TV.
The Olympic Games is one of the most diverse events that takes place in the world in terms of both cultural diversity and also inclusion.
Purple Lime’s Summer Sports Event
At Purple Lime, having spent most of lockdown only able to see each other virtually, we decided to have our own Purple Lime sports event to commemorate the Summer Olympics. Having fun together as a team, getting to know each other again and welcoming newer team members.
Last week, the majority of the Purple Lime team met on the beautiful grounds of our office in Hartham Park, Corsham, for an afternoon of sports and a socially distanced picnic. Hampers were provided by Sweetpea Café, also housed in Hartham Park. Obviously, as with everything post the pandemic outbreak, we took extra care and precautions, keeping our distance: each with our own picnic blankets and the picnic hampers were individually packed and labelled. We ensured we stayed apart when we spoke and played, with plenty of hand sanitiser going around.
We were extremely lucky with the weather. It had rained every day leading up to the event and the afternoon started out cool and overcast. However, the clouds quickly cleared as we began with a number game called Mӧlkky. A Viking version of skittles with maths, it is the perfect game to get a group of professional accountants warmed up.
Next, we moved on to a match of rounders, with the two directors, Oli and Sam, as team captains. We have some competitive members of staff at Purple Lime which made the match more exhilarating. We sneakily managed to keep a distance at bases inching past the post during the game. Rounders had just been given the go-ahead as a Covid secure activity by the government.
After the physical exertion of playing Rounders, we took a break to enjoy our delicious picnic and a refreshing Wiper & True beverage.
This was the first time we have been together as a team since 17th March, and it was clear that the comradery has been missed. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Everyone was cautious, but comfortable to be together outdoors.
The last game of our sports event was a Purple Lime’s concocted game called Bolf. Created during a lunch hour last year, this is a combination of bowls and golf, like bocce, and is a perfect game to play with social distancing rules. Every player gets their own bowls ball (meaning there is no traverse contact of objects) with the objective being to get to the jack within an agreed par limit.
We took turns throwing, rolling and tossing the weighty metal balls. This game took us all around the beautiful grounds of Hartham, adding plenty of steps to our individual daily step goals. Being in the familiar surroundings also made us all realise how much we had missed our workplace and each other throughout lockdown.
Our sports event and picnic provided a fantastically invigorating afternoon, with each of us showing our strengths in different games, some more competitive than others, but with everyone having fun.
We cannot wait to do it again.
Why is team building important?
Since the virus, business teams have been split, with many working from home. Now back at work, they need to build up the trust, collaboration and communication – all things, which existed before lockdown.
Also, some of your team members may have moved on to other employment and you may have recruited new team members, so team building is a great activity to undertake.
Team building can be a relaxed fun event organised by the team themselves, like our Purple Lime sports and picnic afternoon, or outside-organised team building events.
8 things Team Building Promotes
- Good working relationships.
- Trust the within team. You know you have people to fall back on. You can trust them to know your strengths and weaknesses, and with this trust, your communication will improve.
- Collaboration: Working together towards the same end.
- Communication: Communicating well with each other. People understand their roles, how they work best, and how they can help each other.
- Forms bonds: Interpersonal relationships are improved through teamwork. You share experiences, both failures and wins.
- Learning new skills: team building can help you to learn how to deal with situations and understand how to resolve conflict by learning to actively listen.
- Competition: observe how different members of staff are motivated.
- Fun: the team enjoys fun together.
Ultimately, whichever style of team building event you choose, it helps with morale and success of your business going forward.