Center Brings Nerf Wars, Smash Rooms to Manchester

Left: Jake King and Melanie Haney. Right: Nerf Wars game play. (Photo Courtesy of East Coast Evolution Leadership)

Not many companies can cater to both the team building needs of an investment firm and a parent looking for a place to have a Nerf war birthday party. East Coast Evolution Leadership (ECEL) and Thrive Outdoors, a duo of team building and leadership training businesses, recently expanded operations to include a 6,000-square-foot adventure-based Community Leadership Center in Downtown Manchester where people of all ages can learn to manage stress and build community.

ECEL manages the Beech Street homeless shelter with Jake King serving as the shelter’s site coordinator. King started Thrive Outdoors in 2013 to teach outdoor survival skills by tapping into his personal experiences as an Army Ranger and a police officer. Since 2022, Thrive has primarily focused its programing, including wilderness survival, team building and stress management, on youth in summer camps and recovery centers. 

“I learned a lot about stress management in those jobs in the Army and as a police officer, and this helped shape our curriculum for the homeless population we work with as well as the kids we take into the wilderness today,” King says. “True shelter involves being surrounded by people who support you.”

While Thrive continues to focus on youths, ECEL expands into the corporate and professional teambuilding and leadership training spaces, says ECEL Co-founder Melanie Haney, whose husband is King’s best friend. “Thrive Outdoors is very heavy into nature, including wilderness survival principles, and we found that large corporations didn’t connect with that,” Haney says.

The center offers smash rooms, where people can smash an old TV or printer to smithereens in a safe place; low ropes courses; a climbing wall; and a room where people can have battles with Nerf guns, with courses that change each week.

“Everything we do, whether it’s a fun Nerf war, paint splattering, or a focused corporate team building seminar, it’s all rooted in stress management and how to be your best self no matter how stressful things get,” King says.

For more information, visit eastcoastevolutionleadership.com.