Braving the rain in the name of sport, Brum’s businessmen and women swapped their ties for their trainers last week for the annual Birmingham Business Games. Perry Barr’s Alexander Stadium welcomed over 200 of the city’s professionals, who battled it out in their teams of 10 to be crowned the ultimate champion.
The final scores were close after the corporates-turned-competitors had tried their hands (and in some cases feet) at softball, volleyball, bowls, tug of war, and athletics. However, when the points were counted and verified, it was the aptly-named ‘All Stars’ – a mixed team of individuals from a number of organisations – that emerged victorious. Joint second were JMP Consultants and ‘Where There’s Oak, There’s Fire’ from Oaks Consultancy, with local charity Sport 4 Life coming in a respectable fourth.
Speaking about the event, participant Kathryn Small from Gowling WLG said:
“The evening was great fun, with all teams rolling their sleeves up and getting stuck in! The atmosphere was great despite the occasional wet weather trying to dampen the team spirit, and there was a real sense of community. Sport Birmingham have put on yet another fantastic event and I can’t wait to enter again next year (and hopefully finish slightly higher on the scoreboard)!”
However, while the day was all fun and games, at the event’s core was the very important task of raising money for charity. The Birmingham Business Games is Sport Birmingham’s flagship event for workplaces and this year they joined forces with local charity LoveBrum to raise the profile of the event and the brilliant work done by both charities. As well as having sport masseuses on hand to soothe aches and pains in exchange for donations, there was also a charity raffle held on the night, where entrants had the chance to win prizes such as 2 tickets to a Birmingham City Football game in the hospitality box, a free treatment Session/Sports Massage from Achieve Physio or a 1 month free membership with 2 Personal Training sessions from Nuffield Health.
Overall, the evening amassed £1500.
Amy Bird from Sport Birmingham said:
“I am thrilled with the success of this year’s Business Games! All of the teams turned-up with so much enthusiasm and it was great to see so many people getting involved and having fun out of the office.
I am incredibly pleased about the money we raised and I cannot even begin to thank all those who donated. On behalf of both Sport Birmingham and LoveBrum, I would like express our gratitude to all of the sponsors, the competitors, volunteers and the staff who ensured the success of the event: we couldn’t have done it without you.”
This year’s generous sponsors were Simkiss Guy Recruitment, Swallow Drinks, Synaxis Design Consultancy, Achieve Physiotherapy, New Leaf Health, Onyx Accountants, Gowling WLG, Clean Space and Irwin Mitchell.
In addition to these games, Sport Birmingham works with clubs, coaches and volunteers across the city to increase the number and quality of grassroots participation opportunities for communities from all ages, backgrounds and abilities to enjoy the benefits that being physically active has to offer. This includes the important role that sport has in addressing social isolation, improving educational attainment, combatting crime and anti-social behaviour and driving economic growth.
Launched at the beginning of 2015, LoveBrum supports hidden gem projects across Birmingham that are often volunteer-led and that deliver real change. The charity aims to profile around 40 causes per year, with 12 receiving £2,000 funding complemented by a years’ business support. These projects are promoted as part of a new monthly vote, introduced for 2016, where members find out about a cause every week and vote for their favourite at the end of the month.