GELI steps forward to win exercise challenge

Griffith's winning team in the 2015 Global Corporate Challenge include members from the Gold Coast, Nathan and Mt Gravatt campuses.
Griffith's winning team in the 2015 Global Corporate Challenge included members from the Gold Coast, Nathan and Mt Gravatt campuses.

‘Get Energetic Live Immortally’, a team made up of participants across three campuses and four sections of the Griffith English Language Institute (GELI), has wonthe 2015 Global Corporate Challenge at Griffith University.

The seven-strong group was one of four teams to represent GELI in the 100-day employee exercise challenge.

The winning side included Melissa Batt, Nina Ginsberg, Diana Vallejo, Karen Watkinson, Tracey Walker, Alexandra Norris and captain, Sami Tsuchiya, and was made up of GELI staff from the Nathan, Mt Gravatt and Gold Coast campuses.

Winningteam.WidescreenwebMelissa Batt, an activities assistant on the Mt Gravatt campus, said the decision to randomly select four GELI teams proved an enormous success as she forged new friendships with staff she had not personally known previously.

Sami Tsuchiya, a Student Centre Manager at Nathan, set regular targets which brought the group together as it steadily climbed the competition ladder. “We worked together and supported each other to achieve our goals,” she said.

In total, 91 teams from Griffith University took part, incorporating 637 participants, to ensure that Griffith finished fourth in the Education and Training category for the second year running. Thirty-seven organisationsnationwide participated in this category with University of Sydney coming out on top.

Each group tracked their daily physical activity during the past three months as they walked, jogged, cycled or, in the case of Sonya Grieve, played netball three or four times a week.

“This is a fantastic wellness exercise that generates staff engagement and interaction across the university,” Professor Martin Betts, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Engagement) said.

“I look forward to the continuation of this revolution through which staff are supporting each other and looking out for each other while also reaping the physical and mental health benefits.

“In doing so we are also creating a university environment where both staff and students are encouraged to flourish and excel.”

At a presentation ceremony held simultaneously at the Red Zones on both the Nathan and Gold Cost campuses, Melissa Bouffler, Account Manager, Global Corporate Challenge, presented a trophy to Professor Betts in acknowledgement of the Griffith effort.

She told participants on both campuses that the Griffith group had completed more than 690 million steps during the 100-day Challenge, amounting to 442,000km. The daily individual step average came in at 11,713 and 68% of Griffith participants exceeded 10,000 steps a day.

More than 116 million kilojoules was burned off, the equivalent of 95,712 hot dogs, Ms Bouffler revealed. Global Corporate Challenge works with businesses all over the world to improve the health and performance of employees.

IndividualAwardwebRick Williams (left), gym enthusiast and a member of the second-placed Smooth OperatORs team from the Office of Research, took the honours in the Most Active Individual category. Tejal Bharambe, a senior software engineer, collected the medal for Most Improved Individual.