By Barbara Haislip If you work for a small company, it helps to enjoy playing sports.Companies of all sizes arrange for their employees to participate in office-related sports. But at small companies, those pastimes can become an obsession. When businesses have just a handful of employees, everyone is expected to get involved, instead of just select die-hards. Even bosses are expected to join in the "fun"—in a way they aren't at big companies.When small companies start to grow, meanwhile, sports can take on another crucial role, keeping employees bonded and reminding everyone of the all-in-this-together spirit of the early days.Still, sports can put pressure on small-company employees. "Companies are running lean and mean these days, and employees are being asked to do more with less. Committing more time to the organization, especially when there is no additional pay involved, may send employees running to your competitors," says Roberta Matuson, president of Matuson Consulting, in Florence, Mass.And, of course, "not everyone is into team sports," she says. Businesses might "consider alternating sports teams with events and clubs that may capture the interests of those who are not necessarily into team sports."With that in mind, here's how some entrepreneurs say they use sports to blow off steam and stay together. TOGETHER AT THE TABLE: At Grid Connect Inc., a Naperville, Ill., software company, the sport of choice is ping pong. There's a table in the office where employees hold daily doubles matches and an annual championship. There's also a machine to help people practice solo."Everybody plays, nobody can opt out. You can take your frustrations out playing ping pong," says founder and chief executive Mike Justice. "When you aren't playing, you can root for the underdogs. It was one of the best things we ever did for morale."Mr. Justice says people who can barely hit the ball can practice and improve over time—"It's a real confidence builder"—and the doubles match teaches people to compete as well as collaborate. (His father, Bud, who works in purchasing and shipping, is the official scorekeeper.)Mr. Justice, by the way, is the current holder of the championship trophy, but says his employees don't let the boss win and are happy when he loses. IN THE TRENCHES: SmugMug Inc., an online photo-sharing company in Mountain View, Calif., participates once a year in a Tough Mudder event, a hard-core obstacle course, with tests like crawling under barbed wire in a shallow trench filled with water and jumping off a ledge into a lake.The family-owned company sees it as a way to make all 149 employees feel like family. "You get muddy and tired and beat up. It is like the Marines and boot camp. The more athletic help the less athletic because you want to finish together as a team. At the end, you are arm in arm, and there are big smiles and high-fives," says co-founder Chris MacAskill. THE GREAT LEVELER: Offerpop, a New York social-marketing company with about 135 employees, finds that "team sports help us keep that collaborative, fun startup spirit even as we scale," says Wendell Lansford, CEO, who played forward this past season on the basketball team. Members of different departments talk through projects during postgame drinks, says Jack Gibbs, account executive and captain of the team. "In a neutral setting, it's easier to have perspective and hear thoughts from multiple teams and leadership levels," he says. "The sports teams help to make everyone more comfortable with one another. On the basketball court, we're equals." UNDERDOG SPIRIT: Of course, not everything goes smoothly with sports efforts. But sometimes even missteps can teach teams a thing or two. Jerry Schranz, captain of the softball team at Beckerman, a public-relations firm in Hackensack, N.J., says finding a full lineup was tough in the team's early days. "The biggest challenge for a small company is to find enough people to field the team," he says. "We actually had to forfeit a game or two for not having enough players, but we made the most of the opportunity last year—to hold an extra practice with those who could make it."Mr. Schranz also learned some strategic skills from managing the team. "It is very difficult to give up the ball as a starting pitcher, where you think that no one can pitch as well as you," he says. "It was something I had to learn to do: delegate to others and let it unfold. And, just like a dugout in the game of baseball, I was able to see things in the firm by stopping by co-workers' desks and talking strategy."Getting overmatched can also help bring a group closer together. Last fall, John Pinkham, associate at PAN Communications Inc., a PR agency in Boston, started a soccer team to let co-workers get some exercise and mingle. "Turns out the fun league we signed up for was super competitive, with ex-college players and Europeans who kicked the ball faster than I thought was possible," he says.Tensions were high "as a few of us were trying to figure out ways to win and the others wanted to just give up and quit," he says. "We did eventually find our own quirky way to have fun, even when losing 12-0. Every time someone actually scored, we celebrated like we just won the World Cup."In the end, Mr. Pinkham says, "I think everyone was glad they played, and it brought us more together as colleagues and friends—just maybe not as teammates." Ms. Haislip is a writer in Chatham, N.J. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com.