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Shooting for team building

The sport that has stormed corporate boardrooms abroad is now here

PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.

CHILL-OUT Paintball is extremely good for de-stressing, claim its promoters

After two decades of thrilling sports enthusiasts, adrenaline junkies and corporates the world over, paintball, the world's fastest growing extreme sport, is finally in Bangalore. Yuyutsa Consulting, an outbound learning and extreme sport company, is one of the first to launch paintball in Bangalore.

Paintball was started in the United Sates in the early Seventies not as a sport but for cattle farmers to mark or paint their cattle. Over the years it first developed as a recreational sport and later as a professional sport, involving association, professional teams and million dollar prizes.

It is like a war game where two teams compete with each other to capture the other's territory, which includes a fort and an embankment. The team that moves up has to shoot down their opponents. If the opponents are marked by a paintball, then they are out of action.

The game today has spread across almost the entire globe with a presence in over 100 countries. The growth is not limited to the sporting arena. Companies have realised the potential of using the game in their training for building characteristics like team bonding, leadership and motivation.

The uniqueness of the sport is that any one can play regardless of skill, age, gender or fitness levels.

It is extremely good for de-stressing, claim its promoters. Many teams from other sporting disciplines, from basketball to cricket, use it as a regular part of the training. Yuyutsa has set up a playing field with over an acre of playing area on Banerghatta Road and it is open to the public.

The company's client list runs reads — Wipro, MindTree, Honeywell, Arvind Brands and World2web. They say that the game makes one think out of the box and is a colourful alternative to dull conferences and boring sales meetings.

But what do people who actually play think about the game?

"We thoroughly enjoyed the game. The participation was healthy and some of our team members dazzled us with their thought process and performance. It also gave us an opportunity to bond better with teams from other functional spheres and made the association a memorable one. All participants would stand by me when I say that playing paintball was a de-stressing experience and a lot of fun," says Yogesh, an HR manager.

Quite a few others echo his sentiments and Bangalore's corporate world has found a new alternative to golf and five-a side football to chill out and at the same time engage in constructive team building activities.

KALYAN ASHOK

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