UK Article DirectorySubmission Free Article Directory

What will they get up to next?  Executive stress relief takes a sharp turn

While browsing through the listings of the team building and corporate events categories of online directories the other day, one thing became patently obvious to me – that the clamour for new types of event is apparently beginning to overtake the sites meant to hold them.

From Archery in Ambleside to the “Crystal Maze” experience in Carlisle, the tastes of all events organisers seem to be catered for by a host of companies with the overwhelming intention of offsetting executive stress and reinvigorating tired teams from Land’s End to Canary Wharf, with a variety of “cooperative team quests”, “giant jenga sets” and inflatable sumo suits in tow.

However, is any of this multitude of multi-coloured offerings really as satisfying as lining the MD up in the frame of your mask and vigorously thrusting a sharp sword at him? In my experience as a Head Coach and Managing Director of a corporate sword fighting enterprise, the answer is no.

Now, you may think this is ridiculous – that giving overpaid execs plastic swords to wave at one another (with a little prior instruction and protective kit of course) is perhaps a tad irrelevant or unjustified in our current waning economic climate?  If so, let me take you on a short history lesson to expain how we arrived at this rather wonderful, extremely simple, interpretation of the ancient art of team building and staff motivation via an ancient race that we all know and love.

One of the earliest examples of sword fighting being featured in a non-fatal, controlled, fencing “bout” is in a drawing by the ancient Egyptians, containing two consenting combatants and a match judge (or “President” in modern fencing terms).  What is interesting about this drawing is that it quite clearly depicts  a training excercise rather than a real battle, with the “fencers” both wearing a primitive form of armoured protection, which was soon to be developed into a shield and a longer, more traditional sword in various forms such as the later broadswords and rapiers made famous by Errol Flynn.  And why the history lesson?  Because the fact that it is a sword fighting training match means that the excercise was being used as a reeneactment of a real life situation in the same way that we use team building strategies today, in order to develop key skills necessary to outwit opponents and emerge victorious, that modern businesses covet but are often all too slow to reward and nurture.

Now that the analogy is out of the way, let us cut to the chase and look at what fencing your boss (or that annoying dude from IT) actually CAN and CAN’T do for the modern business.

A corporate sword fighting event CAN.

1. Increase personal motivation to overcome (business) rivals head to head
2. Enhance both mental and physical reflexes in response to a quickly changing situation
3. Promote analytical thinking in order to ascertain an opponent’s weakness(es)
4. Challenge you to react to a changing environment with new and improved strategies
5. Engender respect for an opponent that allows you to interact with them in a way that is more conduscive for doing good business (i.e. be friendlier to each other)
6. Be loads of fun and give you a nice smug feeling when you win (see above for how to handle this warm sensation)
7. Win you the heart of the girl/guy you’ve always had your eye on (circumstances and face masks permitting)

A corporate sword fighting event CAN’T.

1. Make you the boss because you beat your existing one (Modern, non-ancient, business hierarchies don’t work like that)
2. Make you adept at sliding down bannisters and landing in a chair that overturns neatly to deposit you and your sword in the face of your flailing opponent
3. Make you better looking (see point 7 above)
4. Get you sacked (but will certainly make you more diplomatic)

So, calling all event organisers, potential team builders and bonders, you pays your money and takes your choice.

Is it to be the usual fare of Sumo suits, a sweatband and an embarrassing low res vid taken by Martin from Accounts that will linger on long after your demise? A paintball helmet (bruises compulsory, deep heat optional)? Or a very simple team building activity linked to the most ancient values of business, passed down through generations of valiant warriors.

I know what I choose, hold my jacket and the choco-double-mocca-latte and pass me my rather dapper leather glove and (plastic) sword please.  En Guarde!

About the Author:
Darren Birchall is the Managing Director of www.swordfightingteambuildingevents.co.uk , www.fencingparties.co.uk and www.balestra.co.uk and likes sword fencing rather too much for his own good.

Link directories were at the height of their popularity around 2001. At the time, blogging and content syndication were just starting to gain prominence, and link directories were the only source of inbound, one-way links.
Link directories have continued to maintain their success over time. Despite the fact that we have bigger search engines, link directories [...]

Driving a left hand driven car offers magnificent excitement and amazing driving moments. Left hand driven cars or LHD are the cars where the steering wheel is located on the left side when you are looking the front of the vehicle or on the  right side when you are sitting inside it. The difference between [...]

Most spa and hot tub owners like to use their tub all year round. In fact, many people enjoy the relaxing warmth of a hot tub or spa the most, during the cold winter months. However, if you’re not one of those types and want to shut your hot tub down during the coldest months [...]