On 14th January 2012 DUPLAYS teamed up with Duke University. 150 international students who study through the American University came to Dubai as part of their MBA cross continent programme.

The students, who had only met for the first time that morning, took part in a day of team building activities organised and run by DUPLAYS.

The Habtoor Grand Beach Resort & Spa was the chosen venue for the teams to take part in a variety of tasks which encouraged them to use key skills which will become essential when completing their MBA programme.

Building bridges out of newspaper, solving ancient Indian puzzles and creating shapes out of rope whilst blindfolded were amongst the activities set up for the students, and from the results it was clear that the students had mastered the day’s main focuses of teamwork and communication.

DUPLAYS handled everything from planning, setup and manpower to event day management, facilities and activities.

If you want DUPLAYS to organise you a team building day or large scale event contact us at info@duplays.com.

Post written by DUPLAYS Intern Oliver Barry

Every day 40-100 new members join DUPLAYS.com to discover sport leagues, events, and more in the UAE. We’re proud of passing the 30,000 member milestone (Dec ’11) but we’ve got a long ways to go on our mission to get the UAE playing more sports and being more social. Play now.

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Check out these great photos from the thrilling 3-day event on JBR Beach in Dubai. Organized by MBM Holdings and DUPLAYS, over 4,000 people attended the FootVolley World Cup 2011 to cheer on 32 men’s teams and 4 women’s teams from 27 countries. Brazil took home the title, defeating Paraguay in close fought match Saturday night with HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum and many other distinguished guests in attendance.

Write-up from Sport 360: “Brazilians Display Silky Samba Skills in Dubai” by Reem Abulleil

Brazilian teams stole the show at the Footvolley World Cup UAE 2011 yesterday, stunning the crowds with some mind-blowing skills at Jumeirah Beach Residence.

The sport which combines both football and volleyball originated from the beaches of Brazil and it’s no surprise they came to Dubai with nine teams in total, five men’s and four women’s.

The day started with group stage matches that were left over from Thursday, before things heated up in the last 16.

All five men’s teams from Brazil were placed in one group, which meant that Group A saw the hottest matches of the tournament. Brazil1 and Brazil2 advanced to the last-16 before they dominated in their matches against Netherlands1 and England2.

Both Brazilian teams will face-off again in the quarter-finals today.

“It’s always very tough to face another Brazilian team,” said Brazil1 star Piao. “But we are looking forward to a good match and we are hoping to give the crowd another entertaining match.”

The ladies of Brazil wowed the audience with two exhibition matches, and one of the contestants, Vanessinha, who has been playing footvolley for 11 years, said she was amazed by the reaction from the stands and how far the sport has come.

She said: “It’s so amazing to see footvolley here, and seeing people watching with surprised eyes. It makes me feel really happy because footvolley was created in Rio and now to see it being played here in Dubai by all these people, it’s just great.”

The tightest affair of the day was between Paraguay1 and Portugal2, where Paraguayans Victor and Oddi pulled off a terrific comeback to win 23-21 and book themselves a quarter-final spot against their compatriots Jesus and Quicho (Paraguay2), who beat Netherlands2.

“The tournament is number one, it’s very special,” said Victor. The UAE team comprising of Jamal Seif – also the tournament director – and Mohammed Rashed Al Sewedy had lost all their group stage matches the previous day to Spain, Norway and Uruguay, but Seif said he finds solace in the fact that the tournament has proven a big hit amongst both the players and the spectators.

“I would like to apologise for our level in the matches, but if we are talking about the level of organisation, we have done a fantastic job.

“The feedback has been great and the players and their teams explicitly told us that this is the best footvolley event they have attended across the world,” said Seif.

The UAE team is ranked 11th in the world and have won some impressive matches prior to the World Cup but unfortunately could not replicate that form in Dubai.

Alongside the FootVolley World Cup, DUPLAYS organized a 2 day beach volleyball tournament – JBR Beach Sport Fest. Enjoy these photos of the action:

DUPLAYS was proud to organize the UAE vs Duke basketball game in Dubai on 25-Aug-2011. In front of over 2,000 fans the UAE National Team played exceptionally well against one of the best teams in US college basketball, Duke.

DUPLAYS handled everything from planning, ticketing, and promotion to setup, manpower, event day management. Want DUPLAYS involved in your next large scale event? Contact us at info@duplays.com.

Enjoy these photos and videos from the game below:

Congrats to all the teams who battled it out on the courts over two days of intense streetball action in Sharjah. With 4 divisions (Men’s, Women’s, Boys’, Girls’) of teams competing for 25,000 AED in prizes, the competition was fierce and the UAE’s best ballers came out to showcase their talents.
Enjoy this slideshow of teams and action shots:
Here are some video highlights from the Slam Dunk contest! More Sharjah Streetball videos can be found on DUPLAYS YouTube channel.

For more, here’s the event page on facebook:

We’ve got 50+ videos of the best football freestylers in the world competing head to head at DUPLAYS Beach Sport Park on the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Below we have some videos from the top 24 freestylers as well as the final matches of the 2v2 tournament (50 teams). Special thanks to Samsung for making it all possible. Enjoy!

Classic (intense!) battle: Yosuke vs Was

3-way FINAL battle: Sean (France) vs Rene (Germany) vs Petike (Hungary)

In addition to the 24 world-class freestylers, 15 UAE freestylers competed with Bilal (video below) winning top honors as the UAE’s Best Freestyler.

Battle: Yorok vs Bilal

Fifty teams also competed in an intense 2v2 football competition. Congrats to Daredevils for their victory of Sustainable Energy — who beat team “S3” composed of top freestylers Sean (France) & Bencok (Belgium).

Daredevils vs Sustainable Energy

Sustainable Energy vs S3

S3 vs Egypt! (don’t miss Bencok’s crazy goal at 4:15 mark)

Use this window below to navigate through the full 50 video playlist

What’s DUPLAYS all about? Check this video from “Weekend Out” Originally aired Feb 7, 2011 on SonyTV.

Team captains (and individuals), you can now order customized NIKE football team kits online. Choose your team’s color, size, logo, name & number per player and have them shipped to your door. Visit http://duplays.com/shop to customize yours today!

Gulf News business featured DUPLAYS co-founders Derv Rao and Ravi Bhusari talking about the company’s growth and potentital. Read the Gulf News full article here: “Thriving on sport’s social side” (27-Jan-2011). Excerpts below:

A quick visit to the 14th floor offices of Duplays in JLT reveals a business environment as fresh and as active as the company’s central nervous system, a website chocked full of sports league games scheduled across the UAE in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.

Soccer balls, basketballs, Frisbees and giant Duplays banners punctuate the office where Canadian founders Ravi Bhusari and Davinder “Derv” Rao work daily to build up the company.

…

Duplays is doubling in growth every year from 5,000 members in 2008, to 10,000 members in 2009, and to its current roster of 20,000.

“We arrived at 20,000 members as of December 31, 2010 and our goal for 2011 is to double that to 40,000,” Rao said.

Rao said the hard work to start a company from scratch is paying off judging by the numbers.

…

Hillary Lawson, 29, is a Duplays client who says mixing her love for sport and socialising has found a home in the sports company.

When Lawson moved to Dubai two years ago, the financial analyst was like many expats and eager to meet others shortly after arriving.

“When I moved here, I didn’t know anyone,” she said.

Lawson discovered the Duplays website after a Google search and joined amateur volleyball and ultimate Frisbee leagues offered in Dubai.

“I love sports to meet new people. It’s the best way to meet likeminded people. There are new faces every year,” said Lawson.

Duplays is helping expats to bridge barriers by using sports as a touchstone for people from different cultures to meet and interact, she said.

“Duplays is doing a very good job of organising sports. They’re appealing to the many nationalities here,” she said. “People are always looking for something new to do.”

Roxanne Brouille, 33, a real estate consultant, has been a member of Duplays since the early days of the company and values her weekly volleyball and Frisbee games.

“There are all age groups, professions and nationalities,” said Brouille. “The one thing we have in common is sports. Duplays has helped me feel a bit more well rounded because I have friends from many nationalities.”

Brouille looks forward to regular amateur games not only as a way to keep a body healthy, but to also stay in touch with new friends in a city that can be a very transient place.

“I look forward to my weekly appointments with my friends,” Brouille said. “I’ve made some really good friends, I’d say 20 or 30, from playing sports.”

DUPLAYS closed out 2010 with a bang, crossing the 20,000 member mark on Dec 31, 2010. Three years after we started, 2010 was by far our biggest and best year yet. Below is our 2010 highlight reel in rough chronological order:

• 1st, 2nd, and… 3rd Beach Games
• 4 corporate “Beach Games” events: DPG, Brooks Multiplex, Lloyds TSB,  Johnson & Johnson
• Snickers World’s Longest Football Match 42 hours 5 minutes = new Guinness World Record!
• UAE Nations Cup by Gillette 48 teams from 27 nations playing  5v5 football over 2 days
• 1st investor in DUPLAYS
• 1st office opened at JLT
• 4 corporate leagues (ADAT, Standard Chartered, Al Tayer Group, ADIB) plus 1st sector league
• 1st facility to call our own: Abu Dhabi Beaches Sports Park with 4 beach volleyball courts+
• Presented at Abraaj Capital’s awesome Celebration of Entrepreneurship 2010
  • won “Pitch your business” contest before panel of VC judges/audience
• NBA Jam Fest Abu Dhabi 2010 5 divisions, 128 teams, 490 players over 3 days
• 1st title sponsor: Al Nabooda Automobiles VW
• 4 new full time team members (Suraj, Katie, Raza, Maz), doubling our full time staff
• 10,241 new members, doubling+ from 9,760 on Jan 1, 2010 to 20,001 on Dec 31, 2010

And that’s not to mention the heart and soul of DUPLAYS: our social and competitive sport leagues in the UAE. Thanks 2010 for being so good to us, and thank you for your support!

Here’s to a great 2011!