Laurentian University’s Tango Tower is about getting creative, encouraging team-building, and judging from the children’s laughter in the background while Sudbury.com spoke with Emily Girouard, Challenge Course facilitator, it’s about fun, too.
The Challenge Course, featuring the 50-foot Tango Tower, was the dream of Jim Little (who Sudbury.com featured back in December, 2023) from the Laurentian University School of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, who commissioned the company Challenges Unlimited Inc. to create something that could enhance the Outdoor Adventure Leadership program and used as a training tool for students, but also, give those students the chance to become trainers and facilitate the course when members of the public want to rent it.
That includes schools, as well as businesses who want to encourage team-building, said Girouard.
The Tango Tower has seven high rope elements and 13 low rope elements. A friction device is a dynamic belay system, you are always being belayed by other participants or by facilitators — which can really develop a trust among people who are depending on each other, said Girouard.
“We want to work on trust and bonding between our groups,” she said. She said even as she spoke with Sudbury.com there was a child climbing a giant lumberjack pole. A rope attached to him, then fed through a pulley at the top is then sent down to the bottom, where three other children and a course facilitator were holding it taught.
“They're working on their trust between each other, and they're able to focus on holding the line, keeping this kid-safe, and they kind of realize the impact of what they’re responsible for.”
There are also aspects of the course that are easier done in a group.
“There are certain elements where they have to work together to climb a certain element, it's going to be a lot more challenging if you do it alone,” she said. “There's other ones where they can compete or race or challenge each other in different ways and that includes our giant swing, a very, very exciting experience where they get pulled up in the air, about 40 to 50 feet, and then they'll swing all the way down.”
She said there are also elements for those not so into heights.
“We have low rope elements, lower to the ground so there's a lot less of a fear element,” said Girouard. “But it really does work on team building and creative problem-solving.”
Girouard said facilitators are also trained to scale the course to the needs and capabilities of the group.
“A group of summer camp kids that we have right now, they don't know each other super well, so we'll give them an activity that allows them to meet each other and kind of realize each other's potentials, and challenges,” she said. “Whereas if it's a group of, say, Grade 12 students at the end of the school year, or a corporate group who's worked together for a long time, we'll change those challenges so that they're faced with more creative problem-solving tasks, so they actually have to work together and use each other's strengths and weaknesses that they already know about.”
If you would like to try the course or challenge your workplace to a team-building experience, you can find more information about the course here.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. This story is made possible by Sudbury.com's Community Leaders Program.