Russia: Lapta Training Huddles & Summer Company Cup

tl;dr

One team-building option in Russia is lapta, a local bat and ball game. Run it as a voluntary, opt‑in league with city practices, regional scrimmages, and a summer company cup with referees, with socially safe opt‑outs and equivalent alternatives such as officiating, scorekeeping, logistics, or media roles during the same paid time. Clear roles and company support help many offices join and build pride and trust.

Context

Russia’s homegrown bat‑and‑ball game, лапта (lap‑TA), is often described as predating modern baseball by centuries, though dating and origins are discussed differently across popular and academic sources. Popular accounts attribute 14th‑century Novgorod finds and medieval mentions to lapta and sometimes cite Peter the Great’s era for military training use, but primary academic sources vary and the historical evidence should be treated as attributed rather than definitive. Periods of neglect followed, but a 1990s revival brought annual national championships and formal rules back into view. In short: lapta is an organized amateur sport with active federations and some corporate leagues in parts of Russia today. *) *

Institutionally, lapta now has federations and championships, and according to federation materials it receives some state support. According to the Russian Lapta Federation (Федерация русской лапты), recent events and national championships have involved the Ministry of Sport, which suggests the game is organized, resourced, and visible, though independent confirmation should be consulted for specific events. That scaffolding can make it easier for some employers to adopt lapta as a recurring, proudly local team‑building ritual rather than a one‑off novelty, and adoption varies by region, sector, and workforce demographics. *

Meet the Company/Cultural Tradition

As a case study, ООО “Производственная безопасность и экология” (PBE) is a Moscow‑based 1C partner that builds EHS (environment, health and safety) and ecology automation systems for large enterprises across Russia. Its site lists national clients, certified competencies, and an active corporate culture program. In August 2025 PBE highlighted its fifth annual corporate lapta tournament, underscoring that the game has become a pillar of how the firm forges bonds across far‑flung teams. * *

The lapta initiative is co‑run with sister company 1C‑KSU (1C‑Corporate Systems Management), a subsidiary in the 1C group specializing in enterprise implementations. Together they field mixed teams from dozens of cities, fund equipment and venue rental, and draw on the Профессиональная лига русской лапты (Professional Lapta League, PLRL) for training and certified referees: a turnkey ecosystem that keeps the ritual frequent and credible. PBE says that in “every city where our employees work, there are teams,” and that “joint trainings” knit people together between tournaments; as of 2025, the lapta community across PBE and 1C‑KSU counted nearly 500 people. * * *

On 12 August 2025, PBE’s V (fifth) Anniversary Tournament at a park‑hotel near Moscow gathered about 260 employees from 40 cities, with professional referees on the field and cheering sections in the stands: proof that the tradition is not only alive but scaling. The firm’s recap frames lapta as “a mirror of our corporate philosophy,” where split‑second decisions, mutual support, and cross‑city camaraderie translate from the pitch to project work, and in ritual terms the cadence moves from separation (city qualifiers and role assignment) through liminality (finals weekend with neutral refs, shared kit, and chants) to incorporation (awards, city shout‑outs, and intranet recaps). *

The Ritual

Cadence	Scene	Purpose
Regular (throughout the season)	Local “joint trainings” in each city; skills drills (bat control, sprints), short scrimmages; equipment and pitch provided by the company	Keep bonds warm between offices; build shared vocabulary and trust through co‑practice
Periodic (regional)	Friendly scrimmages with nearby offices; PLRL guidance for rules and officiating	Low‑stakes competition; widen peer networks beyond immediate teams
Seasonal (early summer)	Qualifiers for the Corporate Lapta Cup (refereed); match format typically two 20‑minute halves, 8‑a‑side	Energize the wider community; channel healthy rivalry into cooperation
Seasonal (mid–late summer)	Corporate Lapta Cup finals weekend: mixed‑role involvement—players, volunteer timekeepers, and fans	Peak shared identity moment; celebrate effort and cross‑site cohesion

Notes: Lapta’s common corporate format uses two 20‑minute halves and squads of around eight per side; coaches or referees can adapt rosters to venue size and safety needs, and variants across school, federation, and corporate play adjust field size, match length, and roster size to local conditions and safety. * *

Why It Works

• Cultural authenticity: Lapta is uniquely Russian yet easy to learn. Many participants report pride in playing a familiar local sport rather than an imported pastime, according to PBE’s internal recap in 2025. That identity resonance is hard to fake with generic activities. *) *
• Biochemistry of bonding: Synchronized, exertive group activity elevates endorphins and strengthens social glue. Small studies from Oxford and related labs report that teammates training together exhibit higher pain‑tolerance (a proxy for endorphin activity) than individuals training alone, and related work links group exertion and synchrony to stronger in‑group bonding, but sample sizes are modest and effects may not generalize across workplaces. The upshot: shared movement is associated with stronger feelings of cohesion, though effects on workplace outcomes may vary by context. * * *
• Roles for everyone: PLRL’s corporate format emphasizes inclusive roles: employees can play, officiate, keep score, or cheer. Rotating responsibility creates ownership and trust across hierarchies and functions. *

Outcomes & Impact

• Scale and continuity: PBE’s lapta community numbers “almost 500 people” across PBE and 1C‑KSU, sustained by company‑funded equipment and pitch rentals. The ritual is frequent (local trainings) with seasonal peaks (qualifiers and finals), minimizing the “one‑and‑done offsite” problem. *
• Cross‑city belonging: The firm reports that lapta gives colleagues who “only meet on online calls” a concrete reason to connect offline, accelerating rapport for distributed teams. *
• Visibility and pride: The 12 August 2025 fifth‑anniversary tournament gathered about 260 employees from 40 cities, with professional referees and structured brackets: clear signals that leadership backs the ritual at scale and that it has become lore new hires quickly learn. *

Beyond PBE, lapta’s federations and leagues, including the Профессиональная лига русской лапты (Professional Lapta League, PLRL), can help employers who choose this path with coaching, fixtures, and rules, and outside Russia leaders should prefer locally resonant sports, credit lapta’s origins when referenced, and partner with community clubs to share benefits. * *

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why It Matters	How to Translate
Anchor in a local sport	Authentic signals beat novelty acts	Choose a cultural game with existing clubs/federations
Make it rhythmic	Belonging grows with repetition	Pair regular practices with a seasonal cup
Design many roles	Inclusion sustains participation	Rotate captains, referees, and scorekeepers
Borrow external scaffolding	Neutral rules and refs reduce friction	Partner with a federation or local league
Keep it safe and simple	Accessibility > athleticism	Modulate field size, match length, and gear for mixed abilities

Implementation Playbook

1. Find a partner: contact the Профессиональная лига русской лапты (Professional Lapta League, PLRL) or a local club for coaching, officiating, and event templates, and publish a one‑page comms plan that explains why now and how it links to strategy, states that participation is voluntary with a socially safe opt‑out, sets expectations (time, place, gear, norms), and credits federations/partners in all communications. *
2. Start local: seed city‑based practice groups with shared equipment kits (bats/balls/cones) and a published safety protocol covering warm‑up/cool‑down, contact rules, certified first‑aider and kit on site, heat/cold and weather stop rules, venue risk check, coach‑to‑player ratio, incident reporting, and equipment standards.
3. Publish simple rules and a one‑page run sheet: adopt a standard, beginner‑friendly match format (e.g., two 20‑minute halves; ~8‑a‑side), include a flow with check‑in, warm‑up, hydration breaks, and debrief prompts that connect play to work (e.g., coordination, handoffs, error recovery), and post it on the intranet. *
4. Make participation voluntary with equal‑status alternatives (officiating, scorekeeping, logistics, media, bracket ops), a no‑penalty opt‑out, an inclusion note covering disability accommodations, adaptive equipment, wheelchair‑friendly drills, attire options, and gender‑safe team formation, remote roles for distributed staff, medical or pregnancy opt‑outs, manager training to avoid nudging, and rotate captains to flatten hierarchy.
5. Run a 6–8 week pilot for 2–4 teams with weekly 60–90 minute sessions and two scrimmages, list three must‑keep elements (voluntary opt‑in, neutral refs, safety protocol) and three safe adaptations (indoor/winter variants, small‑field play, mixed‑ability pacing), name a facilitator, publish success thresholds and stop rules, adopt an event code that is alcohol‑free during play and for one hour post‑match with a respectful‑conduct and complaints channel, and schedule low‑travel regional qualifiers if the pilot progresses.
6. Fund the basics and clarify work time: cover venue rental, coaching, and a starter kit per site; confirm with HR that practice and travel time are on the clock or compensated, set transparent travel and stipend criteria and a per‑site baseline budget, provide childcare or transport stipends where applicable, rotate time‑zones and night‑shift slots, timebox sessions to 60–90 minutes with capped group sizes, and estimate an all‑in per‑participant cost for planning. *
7. Capture stories with care: use opt‑in photo/video consent at signup, offer visible no‑photo indicators, minimize data collected, anonymize short‑form surveys, route comms and data handling through Legal/HR for review, retain raw media and survey microdata for 90 days before deletion and keep aggregate reports for up to 12 months.
8. Iterate with feedback and measurement: run brief anonymous pre‑ and post‑season surveys (3‑item psychological safety, 3‑item belonging/identification, 1‑item affect/burnout), track behavioral metrics (attendance and opt‑out rates, cross‑city replies per week, volunteer role uptake), use a waitlist or A/B by cities where feasible, and set success thresholds (for example, +0.3/5 on safety and belonging, +20% cross‑city replies, and ≤3% fairness concerns) before scaling.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating it as a single offsite; without regular trainings, bonds fade.
• Over‑competitiveness; without neutral refs and clear rules, fun turns into friction.
• Excluding novices; lack of skill clinics narrows participation.
• Logistics sprawl; cross‑country travel too early drains energy: start with regional play.

Reflection & Call to Action

A team ritual sticks when it feels like home. By adopting lapta, PBE fused physical play, cultural pride, and inclusive roles into a rhythm that binds a distributed workforce, week after week, city by city. Whether you have five developers in Tomsk or a service hub in Smolensk, a bat, a ball, and a chalked field can turn remote colleagues into teammates. Start small, keep it regular, and let the endorphins, and the smiles, do the rest.

References

• Lapta (game) — history and revival.
• Introducing lapta, Russia’s 400‑year‑old version of baseball.
• Russian Lapta Federation — events and national championships.
• PBE — Corporate culture: “We play lapta as a company.”
• PBE — V Anniversary Corporate Lapta Tournament (12 Aug 2025).
• 1C‑KSU — About the company.
• PLRL — Corporate lapta events (“Корпоративная лига”).
• VDNH “Play lapta” — typical match format (2×20 minutes; ~8‑a‑side).
• Rowers’ high: behavioural synchrony is correlated with elevated pain thresholds (Biology Letters; PubMed).
• Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding (Biology Letters; PubMed).
• 2025 Regulations for interregional and all‑Russian official competitions in lapta (approved by the Russian Ministry of Sport and the Russian Lapta Federation).
• Tvorcheskoe Ob’edinenie “Russkaya Traditsiya” — on‑site lapta master class for groups (corporate).