TQL Tampa Tops At Sportsfest - Times Two
More than 200 teams lined up to dethrone the reigning king at Sportsfest, Tampa, Florida's annual beach-side corporate challenge.
They were unsuccessful.
Team Tampa #3 rang up 104 points in five events – volleyball, dodgeball, tug-a-war, corn toss and surf-and-turf - to edge the runner-up score of 101 and claim its second consecutive overall championship.
(TQL was an event sponsor. Two more Tampa squads participated, as did a team from TQL Orlando.)
“You could tell other teams had gone home after last year, done their homework and tried to come after us,” said GSM Jeff R. “It’s the beach and everybody is competitive, especially when they get outside. To have 200-plus companies, thousands of people competing, for us to win it two straight years means a lot.
“It's a highly aggressive and intense environment. We are the best of the best and we love to win. Others say it, we live it. That's how we have fun.”
“I love the fact at the end of the day we are a team,” said recruiter Rachel G, who not only participated, but was one of the primary office organizers. “We were all out there and we were cheering each other any time we weren’t competing.
“It’s the motivation of having so many people who have your back. It’s kind of like the sales floor. I’m still cheering for you when you land a customer and we’re all working together.”
“I think tug-a-war is the best event,” Jeff said. “That’s when you get to see the aggressiveness come out from the guys and girls out there. You had to go through a lot of pulls to get to the finals. It’s tough.”
Rachel agreed – “That last pull in the finals was maybe the hardest thing ever,” she said - but mentioned another moment that exemplified the TQL spirit.
“One of our surf-and-turf teams won one of its rounds with a broken paddle,” she said. “They’re kayaking in the ocean. There were a lot of waves. They have a broken paddle and they still won by 10 seconds. That impressed me. We never give up.”
If you want to be part of a winning team, consider a career at TQL.