Shashi Subramaniam has always loved playing and watching sport. He brings that passion to the workplace to bring people together, play team sports, and importantly, have fun.

A lover of playing and watching sports, Shashi Subramaniam saw an opportunity to bring colleagues together with team sport and a little bit of competition.

“I grew up in Sri Lanka and have worked in Dubai since 2012, initially in the finance sector, and then with IDP since 2016.

“When I was a kid, I played a lot of football. I represented my country in the U12 Sri Lankan Federation team and was the captain of the school team from U12 to U16. Colombo is famous for football, and I was born into a family tradition of playing. Now as an adult in Dubai, I play 7-a-side football and I ran in the Dubai marathon and the Desert Run. The Desert Run is a 3km event that I finish in about 13.5 minutes. Running is a love of mine.

“Prior to COVID, I arranged IDP sports activities such as football and cricket. Due to the weather conditions, most of the games were played indoors. We had 3-4 teams and people were really interested. The energy and buzz from participants after games made more people want to join in and play. In the cooler months, we could play sports outdoors. The South Asians were always very keen to have cricket as one of the sports!

“Then COVID happened, and we were forced to stop. I maintained my fitness with running, sprinting, taking a ball to the playground and keeping my mind and body active. In 2022, my wife was unwell and received treatment, so my energy and focus were on her. Thankfully, she has responded well to the treatment, and I have slowly returned my focus to work sports. I aim to always keep up my spirits.

“I contacted our Regional Director, Imad, and he was very supportive of starting up the team sports activity again. We started with cricket and played that for a couple of months. We welcome everyone, regardless of whether they have played before, and provide coaching and familiarisation so they are more confident. For example, we had people who hadn’t played cricket before – so we used videos for coaching, as well as teaching how to hold a bat and likening it to a more familiar sport like baseball. At the game, we matched players with similar skills to bowl and bat, creating fairness and confidence. We build excitement during the lead up with the communications and have really positive responses. Family and friends are welcome to come along to watch, cheer, and join in the social side.

“We invite people from across our offices and locations (Dubai office, MEA Regional team, Abu Dhabi office) and rotate the location of our activity depending on the sport, and to make it accessible to people everyone. Playing in a team gives people a sense of purpose. Being together as a team adds another dimension to working together and virtual meetings. It builds engagement, a sense of teamwork, and fun. When people see me, they ask “Shashi, when is the next sport event”. That makes me happy and encourages me to arrange more events.

“It would be great to see other regions replicate this initiative. I can’t recommend it enough. Coming together for something other than work, being active together, and most importantly having fun and team connection.”

Thank you, Shashi, for bringing people together, and showing us the IDP Values of Caring and Community.

#ItsUpToMe to create a space for connection and belonging.