Winning Team is a conversation game for sports teams, clubs and coaches who want to develop their team's ways of working through constructive conversation, slamming playing cards on the table. The game was created in content collaboration with Kati Kuoksa, an expert in interactive communication and a passionate ball games player. The game was test-driven by the men's volleyball championship league team Hurrikaani Loimaa.
"The Hurrikaani Loimaa team found it good that they played Topaasia in pairs or in groups of three, in which they worked through the topics under discussion. It gave them a sense of safety in putting things into words, and an understanding of their own and others' thoughts. As a new team they did not know each other very well yet, and it felt safe to put things into words with a pair or a group. Especially with things that need improvement, someone can get the feeling that faults are being pointed out and someone's feelings will be hurt", Kati says, and continues with how the game proceeded:
"Then when we started putting the cards into words and discussing as a team, a lot of good conversation arose and essential observations were shared. The team together chose the TOP issue, that is, the most important thing to advance together. Then, as a team, they put into words what the actions are and how they want to start advancing it".
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Feedback from the players
The players said that they have played in many teams, but nowhere have these kinds of things ever been discussed. That highlighted the need for this deck. We need tools like this that get people talking. They were super happy with this session. We have agreed that this will be done again with the team.
"Talking about things is often considered important in sport. To some extent it surely does happen. The Topaasia game, however, gives everyone the chance to be heard as equals. Talking about difficult things is also easier with the game.
Playing the game has been a big factor in our team having a safe environment"
-Head coach Olli Kuoksa's comments on playing after two game sessions
"An engaging game that gets your thoughts rolling nicely. The best part of the game is listening to others' opinions on things. It broadens your own way of thinking and teaches you to understand others' thinking too.
As a team we got concrete development points that we have been working on together. Topaasia is an excellent aid for achieving shared goals."
-Captain Santeri Välimaa's comments on playing after two game sessions
Try the Winning Team game for free"After the game the feeling was good. We got a great amount of conversation going between the team members. We thought about things in a completely different way from what we are used to on the court. Sometimes in training things easily become black and white, and now it feels like we thought about things from a completely different angle than usual. Playing was found easy to use.
Playing in small groups lowered the threshold for sharing opinions honestly, as we got support from a teammate. Often things are just stated without producing anything concrete in everyday life. In the game we reached the conclusion of picking three everyday things that we start doing today with a low threshold. Things that everyone can support in our everyday life."
-Hurrikaani player