Grow with Teammates at the 2023 Des Moines Corporate Games

I just started with American Enterprise Group (AEG) in December 2021, so when I was received the opportunity to be the company admin for Des Moines Corporate Games, I felt intimidated. I was new to the company so did not know very many people, and I’m not much of an athlete or sports-enthusiast. However, on the other side of my first year as an admin at a company that is very participative in the DMCG, I found the entire experience a great way to grow with my teammates throughout the organization.

In 2022, AEG placed 3rd for the first time in our participation with DMCG. Of course, this is something I want to brag about. The same with the 19 gold, eight silver and five bronze medals we brought home. However, more importantly, we had 152 employees participate. I’ve worked at other employers that have participated in DMCG, and I’ve never been at a company that has had this much participation. One of the best parts of DMCG is the way it breaks down silos that can inadvertently form in an organization. We had accountants participating in track events with our technology team. We had salespeople playing volleyball with interns. We had senior leadership playing trivia with our administrative team. 

Making Memories at DMCG

I want to share a couple of my favorite memories. The first was from the beginning of the games with Men’s 3-on-3 basketball. We brought a team of three and were surprised when other companies brought teams of six to switch players out (something I learned from for next year). The AEG team was all salespeople (Ryan Brouwer, Caprest Rhone and Kyle Marshall) who had worked a full day and had no one to sub out. However, they won three games in row to get into the final. Thankfully they had some time to catch their breaths before the final game which they won in the last few seconds in order to get our first gold of 2022! 

My other favorite memory was having new employee, Brian Armstrong, start the week before taking four gold medals home from track and field, while competing on his anniversary with his wife and sons cheering him on! Brian was excited to be contributing for a company that had so many employees engaged and excited about participating in the Des Moines Corporate Games.

In the end, I found that I didn’t need to be an athlete or a sports-enthusiast to be an admin. I simply needed to ask people who I may not have known before if they wanted to come out and play, just as simple as when we were kids. I had a great experience as an admin and participating with my teammates on behalf of AEG, and I can’t wait to do it again in 2023!

Registration for the Des Moines Corporate Games opens December 1, 2022. To learn more or to get your company registered, visit dmcorporategames.org.

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