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Thank you to Corey Draper for his submission and personal passion for this annual event!
Some of our newer MODS members may not be sure of what the Manitoba Cup is...
It’s a free tournament hosted by MODS (August 24 & 25th) at the end each summer in August. It's a way to add a lot of value to your summer Ultimate season through bonding, meeting new teams for practice and games while also making new contacts to build our community and yours! For those of you not familiar with the history of the weekend or how it came to be, I offer a brief history and strong plea for all players and teams to consider being a part of the 2019 event this year (and every year moving forward - did we mention the tournament is free?).
In the early days of MODS there was one league. The summer season always ended with a playoff tournament. CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND was where champions were crowned and in the 90’s and early 2000’s teams cemented their legacies, reputations and set the foundation for our organization to come together and grow. As most of you know, MODS grew at a pace that became unsustainable to contain to a single weekend. Split venues were attempted, really short timeslots with multiple games per day per team were used but at it’s peak Championship Weekend was reduced to Semi’s and Finals only with 1 game per day - per team. Quarter Finals were run the last league night of the season and as many as 188 teams were part of a crazy 12 hour schedule each day.
The change from a full tournament to just a couple of games eventually led to a large number of teams withdrawing from the tournament and event. Even when we had 232 teams in our adult mixed leagues, the Championship Weekend never had more than 188 teams participate. This meant a lot of people weren’t playing in the playoffs for their league and in some cases left odd holes for us to fill. The re-shuffling of teams often led to teams being moved up in situations where they shouldn’t have been. Maybe just as important we noticed that the number of MODS members being exposed to an actual tournament was being significantly reduced. Many players can attest that it was the participation in this tournament that really grew their love for the sport... It’s how they became “addicted” to Ultimate if you will.
After a couple of years of consultation and surveys with our members, the MODS Board introduced the Manitoba Cup format in 2015. Under the new format all playoff games were played on their league nights over 3 weeks in August and the new MB Cup event became a way to replace what had been known as “Championship Weekend”. With the move to put playoffs as part of the league structure in August, Manitoba Cup has now become it's own tournament open to any MODS members.
The myth we are trying to dispel with this event, is that tournaments are only for high division competitive players. That is absolutely false. MODS has a large number of teams that fit into the less experienced / less competitive tiers. Players often find that spirit in tournaments is actually higher then it is on average in our leagues (the Torque beer gardens may have something to do with that ;). In addition to the postive environment and spirit is perhaps the most beneficial thing tournaments offer - quick growth in skills. Players will often improve more over the course of this one weekend then they do over the entire season of playing once a week in league.
The Manitoba Cup is a celebration of Winnipeg Ultimate and your RIGHT (to a spirited event, to celebrate and to party) as a MODS member. The more teams that sign up the more balance we have skill wise to offer tiers for all teams.
Whether you’re a newer team that has never played a tournament or a group of grizzled vets with years of CUC experience the event is for you. The Manitoba Cup is great chance to build spirit within our community. Come out, get to know people who play on different nights. Teams don’t need to be specifically comprised of your league roster. Teams can merge, new teams can form. As long as your players are MODS members you’re good to go!
With our new set-up under the canopies at IJL Ultimate Park, the Torque Beer Garden will be in full swing and we have plans to bring the extra party supplies from Beat the Skeeters to this event (Live Band, Beer and Food Trucks)!!! People wanted Karaoke and they will get it. We will debut “SMASH BINGO” (Winnipeg style) on the Saturday as well. The party will be incorporated into the day and we’re working hard to make sure there are some great food options on site.
Start registering your teams now - MANITOBA CUP REGISTRATION
The more teams that participate the more fun, evenly matched and spirited we can make the event!
If you don’t have enough players to form a team contact myself (Corey in the Office) and I can help you to either merge with another team or to use your group as a basis for a Free Agent team. Links to register as a Free Agent are on the same link as above. We’d love to see the biggest Manitoba Cup yet so get your teams in and get ready for a great time!