Greg and I hand picked three more athletic guys (Alex Lee, Magnum Macrae and Matt Wright) and formed a team we called "the Non-Potable Water Slingers." We figured that the level of athleticism on our team would be high relative to most teams, which could give us a tactical advantage (you all know that I'm not competitive at all).
Below is a picture of Magnum, Mark Coakwell (Flight doc), Melissa Dooley (ER doc), John Ensell (ER tech) and Joey Bruner (BioHealth officer) waiting to watch the festivities.
We figured out a second tactical advantage when we discovered that each team was to fill their own balloons between matches - which, although creating a huge hassle in running the event since there was only one hose, gave us the chance to somewhat underfill our balloons so that they would be easier to throw and wouldn't break in our hands.
We decided that these advantages were not enough and that we needed "strategery" on our side as well. We started with a plan of supporting fire teams with "fields of fire" that got us through a couple of matches but didn't really work all that well.
Below is a pic of Alex and Greg on one fire team and Me and Matt on another, with Magnum in reserve.
Our next strategic initiative was a plan to all throw at one individual on the other team at the same time - with all of those balloons coming in someone was bound to hit him/her. We would pick out this individual based on perceived ease of targeting (lack of athleticism), which could be seen as either very mean or very smart. That person would be designated as the "primary target," and we all knew who it was before the match started.
You can see us coordinating the attack on the primary target in the picture below.
Once we eliminated the "primary target" we would transition to the "secondary target" (also determined before the match). Once we got one or two guys out, we had numeric superiority and could play conservatively until either the time or the balloons ran out.
Below is a pic of Alex and Greg on one fire team and Me and Matt on another, with Magnum in reserve.
Our next strategic initiative was a plan to all throw at one individual on the other team at the same time - with all of those balloons coming in someone was bound to hit him/her. We would pick out this individual based on perceived ease of targeting (lack of athleticism), which could be seen as either very mean or very smart. That person would be designated as the "primary target," and we all knew who it was before the match started.
You can see us coordinating the attack on the primary target in the picture below.
Once we eliminated the "primary target" we would transition to the "secondary target" (also determined before the match). Once we got one or two guys out, we had numeric superiority and could play conservatively until either the time or the balloons ran out. This plan worked beautifully and we won every match after implementing it. We even beat the Firemen's team (that had originally beat us under our inferior plan) twice in a row in the finals grudgematch to win the tournament.
We won some portable DVD players (for the guys without kids) and electronic picture frames (for Greg and me) as a prize. Pretty cool prizes - I'm really happy having the pictures to cycle through my frame on my desk.
We won some portable DVD players (for the guys without kids) and electronic picture frames (for Greg and me) as a prize. Pretty cool prizes - I'm really happy having the pictures to cycle through my frame on my desk.It was a great afternoon of fun and we decided that the word of the day was "strategery."
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