Let Corporate Games begin in Abu Dhabi

The Life: It will take place later this year, featuring a variety of sports and thousands of athletes. However, the competitors will not be Olympians, but UAE businessmen and women.

The Corporate Games hopes to attract 3,000 competitors from 150 companies and organisations. Jeff Topping / The National

With thousands of competitors, a variety of sports, an opening celebration and a destination village, it is a bit like this year's Olympic Games in London.

Except some of the "athletes" will be a bit out of shape, they will represent companies, not countries - and the weather will be much more predictable.

Abu Dhabi's inaugural Corporate Games, which will be held over three days this November, will feature 16 sports - badminton, basketball, beach soccer, beach volleyball, cricket, dragon boating, golf, karting, netball, running, football, shooting, table tennis, tennis, tenpin bowling and touch rugby.

"Corporate games have been staged around the world for the last 25 years, but this is the very first in Abu Dhabi," says Julie McCombe, marketing and sales manager of the event. "It is very well recognised as being an up and coming city in terms of sports," she adds. "We have acknowledged the number of sport events being held here and we were very excited to bring a corporate event, because there was nothing really like that on the market here."

The Corporate Games, for which Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister for Higher Education, has been named official patron, is hoping to attract 3,000 competitors from 150 companies and organisations.

It costs Dh495 for each employee entered. Organisers are offering an early-bird discount to encourage companies to sign up soon. If they enter before March 31, they will receive two free places for every 15 participants they enter.

Companies can enter any of the 16 sporting events as a team or an individual. There are no restrictions on age, gender and ability; the oldest athlete to take part in the games so far was 89.

"We always ask when entering people their level [of expertise] because when we do the scheduling we try to make sure they are well balanced, so everyone has fun," says Fanny Marcout, the Corporate Games' chief executive.

However, athletes will need to pick their best sport, as individuals will only be able to enter one contest - to prevent scheduling complications. There will be different divisions depending on the size of the company, ranging from one to five employees up to more than 200. Participating companies will gain points for the teams they have, and will be presented with awards in each division, says Ms Marcout.

The Corporate Games has made some minor tweaks for the Abu Dhabi event by introducing a ladies-only sport, which has yet to be confirmed, as well as a shooting event. This was done to encourage local women to take part.

"Shooting was not part of the list of sports that we have in the other games. But following the discussion we had with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, they were telling us if you want to involve the local community you should at least involve shooting because it's very popular here," says Ms Marcout.

Organisers have already received good feedback, thus far, with government entities and companies such as Etihad and Etisalat showing an interest in participating.

But what benefits does this kind of event offer businesses?

"The obvious one is team building," says Ms Marcout. Yet it also offers an opportunity to encourage employees to remain active to fight against diseases such as diabetes, she adds.

Also, businesses will be offered the chance to network and meet potential new clients in a relaxed environment where they can be more open. "It's done in such a natural fashion when you're not in suits in stuffy conference rooms or reception areas of hotels," says Ehssan Abdallah, a senior practice consultant at Gallup Consulting Middle East and Africa.

"It is done in the outdoors, indoors, in a very [relaxed] environment whereby people are just hanging around," he adds.