Minnesota Sports and Events Case Study: Holistic Wellness for a Busy Events Team
Minnesota Sports and Events brings mega-events to Minnesota – from the Super Bowl to the Big Ten Basketball Tournaments. Exciting work, but also demanding, with long hours around big events. To look after its own team, the regional sports commission built a holistic wellness program with YuMuuv challenges that cover body and mind.
Table of Contents
At a Glance
- Organization: Minnesota Sports and Events, the regional sports commission for Minnesota
- Challenges: physical activity, mindfulness and water challenges
- Approach: employees help choose the challenges; prizes for winners
- Plan: alternate monthly between activity and habit challenges
The Goal
The team wanted to keep people active and support wellbeing in different ways – recognizing that staff health matters as much as the events they deliver. They needed a flexible platform that worked for all fitness levels and covered mental and emotional wellbeing too.
Why YuMuuv
YuMuuv's range of challenges – including mindfulness and water challenges alongside activity challenges – meant everyone could take part, whatever their fitness level.
How They Implemented It
- Open discussion about the app and possible challenges before launch.
- Employees chose the activities, which created ownership and interest.
- Prizes for winners added extra motivation.
- Leaderboards in team meetings – rankings became a regular, friendly topic of conversation.
Early Results
Most of the team took part, and the variety of challenges kept energy high. The first physical challenge coincided with a major event, which made it harder to judge the real impact – a useful lesson about timing. A water challenge followed, with physical challenges returning afterwards to give a clearer picture over time.
Lessons Learned
- Let people choose. Collective decision-making increased interest and commitment.
- Balance body and mind. Including mindfulness helped address the mental and emotional stress of event work.
- Mind the calendar. Avoid launching activity challenges during your busiest weeks.
What Comes Next
The team plans to alternate monthly between physical challenges and manual habit challenges such as mindfulness, sleep and water – and to explore custom challenges tailored to their needs. See YuMuuv challenge types explained and the wellness challenge calendar.
Key Takeaways for HR Teams
- Involve employees in choosing challenges.
- Alternate activity and habit challenges to keep variety and include everyone.
- Plan around peak workload so challenges support, not compete with, busy periods.
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