by Garth Meyer
The annual Aerospace Summer Games are moving from Dockweiler Beach to El Camino College July 27 for the 20th running of the competition, which pits employees of South Bay aerospace companies against each other in 11 events, from human pyramid to “executive golf,” soccer and volleyball.
“It’s like ‘Top Gun’ level competition,” said Michelle Monroe, business communications specialist for Northrop Grumman, recalling last year’s climactic volleyball match between her company and SpaceX.
Northrop Grumman won.
The 2024 edition of the Games is hosted by Northrop Grumman.
Tryouts for teams started last week (volleyball, soccer, dodgeball), Monroe reports from the company’s Redondo Beach campus, followed by practices this week.
The Aerospace Summer Games originated in 2002, an informal event among a group of Boeing employees. It was canceled in 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic. More than 50 companies are set to participate this year.
Another part of the competition is how much canned food and hygiene products each team can collect for donation to El Segundo’s Community Alliance to Support and Empower (CASE).
The complete list of events is; cornhole, soccer, dodgeball, tug-of-war, executive golf (putting by two company executives), ultimate frisbee, human pyramid, volleyball, relay race and water ball toss.
“We have three interested people for executive golf. We’re trying to figure out which two want it the most,” Monroe said about Northrop Grumman’s team.
The company won the Games last year and SpaceX won in 2022. Before the 2020-21 hiatus, Northrop Grumman took the championship in 2018 and 2019 and SpaceX won it the two years before that. ER
