Corporate team building is a chance to build relationships with your colleagues that will help you in the office later on. Your office’s next team building exercise should tap into everyone’s competitive nature, release some frustration, and have everyone laughing with each other. The primal sport of axe throwing will break down your colleagues’ reservations and have them bonding over this fun but intense sport. There’s no better to way to loosen up than throwing an axe and watching it hurtle toward the bullseye.
Axe throwing competitions go back to the Vikings who needed closely bonded but competitive groups to succeed, and the tradition continues to today’s lumberjacks. Axe throwing was only one way for them to build up skills, patience and relationships, but today backyard axe throwing leagues are reviving this ancient contest. Learning how to throw an axe is easier than it seems, too, and the overhead throw has been compared to throwing a baseball. When you’re backyard axe throwing, you can skip running around a field or fumbling with a football, just sit back and cheer your colleagues on until you’re up. Axe throwing is an intense physical experience that still gives your colleagues the time they need to have fun and build better personal relationships.
It’s important that team building activities focus on personal development just as much as interpersonal relationships. They should be confidence-building exercises so that participants develop trust not only in each other but also in themselves. Axe throwing is a powerful act that gives participants the satisfaction of landing a powerful tool in the bullseye, and with the right coaches, everyone on your team will learn to land their axe throw. Axe throwing leagues provide one-on-one training sessions before moving into round robin axe throwing competitions that end with knock-out rounds. While you crown a winner in the end, everyone on your team will benefit from learning this ancient game.
The story of axe throwing’s surge in popularity began when Toronto axe throwing enthusiast Matt Wilson was stuck on a rained-out cottage vacation. Always looking for a game to play, he came up with some easy axe throwing rules and invited all of his friends.He now runs BATL, an axe throwing league that doubles as an events venue.
BATL has venues across Ontario including Toronto, Pickering, London, Ottawa, and Kitchener-Waterloo, as well as a location in Calgary near Sunridge Mall, where they operate backyard axe throwing leagues and provide venues for private parties. They supply the axes and all of their facilities are indoors and available all year round. Make sure you stop by BATLgrounds.com/team-building/ to check rates and availability as well as details like dress code and age restrictions. There is more to building office communication than trust falls these days but with all the options out there you will want to do something that can build your staff’s self-esteem and mutual respect.
