Navigation and Teambuilding trip to the upside-down boat in Jegersberg

Activities:

Prepared by Line, Martynas and myself, we set ourselves the goal of bringing more diversity to the Monday trips with regard to area and procedure. This took us multiple hours of discussion to work out but in the end we were very happy with our results.

To get things started, we wanted to incorporate the slackline in front of Spicheren in what ended up being a slackline quiz of two teams about random facts. We had selected the facts from a sheer endless list we found online. In order to answer the question, one team member had to reach the middle of the slackline before answering. It was a short game to get conversation started and give everyone a chance to wake up.

We gave out maps with spots marked for orienteering and having them work out the route on their own, taking turns in leading.

At the first spot by the beach by the Overe Jegersbergvann we played a game called pulling carrots in the sand. The two teams competed in who could stay together longer on the ground while the other team was pulling at their heels. It got everybody really warm and created a strong sense of group affiliation in the two teams.

Next up was a game we called clash of ideologies in a cold war era Berlin wall edition – basically a tug o’ war without rope to determine which political system would prevail, communism or capitalism. First in individual pairs and later without restrictions to how many people could pull on either end. To further improve the gameplay and to avoid breaks, we brought up another rule of three set points of contact at all times. In accordance with history, capitalism did in fact pull the people to the west side of the wall eventually.

When we reached the next spot, Martynas made the teams engage in a Lithuanian drunk relay race, similar to the one we had at our overnight stay in Jegersberg.

After we had completed the last bit of hiking to the upside down boat, we had a fire and lunch and a last game to determine the overall winner of the day’s competitions. I thought of the game and called it plane crash miracle. The teams pretended to be survivors of a plane crash, which unfortunately cost all but one of them their legs on impact. An emergency kit was placed in a tree, about 5 meters from the ground and the miraculous unwounded survivor was not allowed to climb the tree. Therefore, a strategy had to be developed and in the end, the human pyramid proved to be the most effective one.

The winning team received a chocolate bar and we headed back to university on a different trail. I hope, everybody involved enjoyed our Monday trip. We certainly had a lot of fun planning and guiding the trip!

Testing of equipment:

A Thermos bottle filled with good soup is a great lunch when hiking as it stays warm for many hours. Moreover it is nutritious and helps to keep the body hydrated. Investing in a good thermos can be a good idea as buying a cheap one may result in having to buy a more expensive one later. A good way to improve your thermos or flask is to wrap it in a piece of old isolation mattress which will improve its isolation qualities to a certain extend.

Lessons:

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Group Dynamics:

When trying to foster the teambuilding process, high physically demanding challenges are much more effective than tasks demanding low amounts of energy.