LTW Doubles Tennis Tournament
On Friday September 19th, the Learning, Teaching and Web Division hosted their first ever Doubles Tennis Tournament! The idea was suggested by Technology Enhanced Learning Manager, Mark Wetton, as a fun way to network and meet new colleagues from across the new division which had just been formed on August 1st, 2014.
It wasn’t the sunniest of days; actually it is what would be described as dreich. Luckily no one was put off by this (we are made of sterner stuff than that!) and all the participants showed up ready to play.
Ross showing off his killer serve!
My colleague Fiona Littleton was in charge of organizing how the tournament would be played. We asked people to switch partners after each “match” as this was a social event, so they met as many colleagues as possible. The Tournament consisted of a combination of “Switch Doubles” and “American Tournament”. Everyone enjoyed switching partners after every match and talking to colleagues they may not normally have seen or met.
Tea Cakes!!
Image Courtesy of Nick Veltch licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
In the end, the Doubles Champions were (drumroll….) Nicol Craig from the Special Project Team (MOOCs) and Ross Ward from the Learning Technology Section. They were awarded with a Tennis Champions Certificate and a box of Tunnocks Tea Cakes!
A few days after the tournament I sent out a survey to find out what people thought of the event. I wanted to see if the participants had met someone they may not have normally met and if this event helped breakdown team barriers. One hundred percent of the survey respondents stated that they did think this event broke down team barriers and they did speak to someone they typically wouldn’t have met. Also, the participants would like a tennis tournament to happen again, but perhaps in July during Wimbledon fever (when the weather might be better)!
All in all I would say that the event turned out to be a success and I am looking forward to more social events with my new colleagues.
The Four Finalists playing to win the Tea Cakes! (Ross, Nicol, Luke, Kelly)
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