By Élise Fenwick
Back to the drawing board — this was the brave sentiment behind one team’s goal to move past mere participation and become. . . contenders.
The strategy worked, leading Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) Master of Business Administration (MBA) team to rise from the ashes and capture first place in spirit and second place in athletics at Canada’s 2025 National MBA Games.
Hosted by Vancouver’s University Canada West (UCW) from Jan. 3 – 5, the 37th annual National MBA Games welcomed TRU’s 24 student representatives in addition to about 300 MBA students from 14 Canadian universities.
The theme for the 2025 Games was Digital equity: Closing the chasm, which highlighted the next generation of leaders and their innovative approaches to digital equity. The event showcased emerging talent and practical solutions for an open, secure, free and sustainable digital business ecosystem.
Team TRU demonstrates their enthusiasm during the spirit dance performance.
Lessons learned
Despite winning the athletics trophy at the BC MBA Games in 2024, TRU MBA student and co-captain of the MBA Games team Souvik Das says the team felt uncertain about future prospects.
“Nobody knew if we would be going to nationals,” he says.
While they left the provincial games a little bit beaten and discouraged, Das and co-captain Santhosh Kumar Mariyala immediately began preparing scenario numbers and creating simulation studies of competing academic, athletics and spirit teams to anticipate how TRU’s team would fare at the 2025 National MBA Games.
“When we got the green light from TRU Gaglardi to attend the MBA National Games, Mariyala and I began strategizing and meticulously planning,” he recalls.
Getting strategic
Gaglardi’s entire MBA Games team began preparing for nationals almost immediately after returning from the BC MBA Games last October. And this time, the team was better positioned for success.
“I think the team had a much better idea about the level of competition they would face at the national games after having competed in the BC Games,” team staff lead Jessie Bombardier says. “The team developed a real strategy going into nationals.”
But with only about six weeks (which overlapped with winter vacation and exams) to prepare for the nationals after returning from the BC Games, TRU’s MBA Games team had a lot of work to do.
“Everything was thoroughly thought out from background checks on judges to research on participants,” Das says. “We changed the team structure, added new members and ensured every decision had a clear, logical reason. This preparation gave us the eagerness to win and a sense of calm because we were in control. The team synergy was incredibly high.”
TRU MBA Games faculty coach and Sessional Instructor John McDonald couldn’t agree more, describing the team as excited, energized and ready to participate as a cohesive force in all aspects of the games.
“We entered the games optimistic and more confident this time,” he says. “The level of commitment and passion was there.”
The team’s high spirit led to heightened creativity, especially in relation to spirit-oriented activities, according to Bombardier. “The group went out carolling five nights in a row leading up to Christmas to raise funds for the games’ charity partner. And members from every team — academic, athletic and spirit — participated.”
The athletics team gets ready before their basketball match.
The games
With a stacked team of 24 students divided into two specific groups including academics and athletics (there was no dedicated spirit team because every member brought spirit to the table) TRU’s MBA National Games team secured fifth place overall among the 14 Canadian business schools competing.
There were three major components to the competition: academic, athletic and spirit.
“Specifically, the games challenged the teams to find ways in which Canada and our society can take more innovative and proactive steps to bridge the digital divide,” McDonald explains.
“One event in the academic portion centred around a real-life business opportunity for Rogers and Google Pixel (the two main sponsors of the games) and another dealt with how the important work of the charity partner — Canada Learning Code (CLC) — could achieve greater impact in its mission to empower communities across Canada through accessible computer science education in order to build a stronger, more inclusive Canada through its Career Collective program.”
The final component of the academic portion of the games, known as Launchpad, had students identify and pitch a compelling business case — think Dragons’ Den.
The athletic competition included the usual suspects — basketball, dodgeball — and a mystery sport which turned out to be cornhole. Once again, the spirit challenge focused on fundraising for the featured charity: CLC.
“Two achievements are worth mentioning,” McDonald says. “TRU’s team raised $2,180 in donations and had 100 per cent student participation in the spirit challenge from all 24 team members.”
Eyes on the prize
MBA Games faculty coach Dr. Trent Tucker explains that while the team didn’t have a long time to prepare, their MBA education at TRU helped them focus on being more efficient, working smarter rather than harder.
“The team wanted to compete and try to get on the podium,” says Tucker, MBA program co-ordinator and associate teaching professor with Gaglardi. They helped the team work toward this expectation in part by prioritizing overall points to achieve targets.
Das further explains that the team knew their strengths and weaknesses and had a solid game plan. Through their studies with Gaglardi, Das says the team members learned to focus on areas where we had a strong grasp, work efficiently and address oversight areas strategically.
“On day one at the national games, I had to explain (to other teams) about TRU and Kamloops,” Das says. “By day three, we were hearing, ‘We love T-R-U.’ That’s what we accomplished. . . . Now, everyone across Canada knows us and it’s amazing.”
