Dear friends,
With Halloween in the literal and proverbial bag, the hardware stores and shopping malls furiously decking the halls with boughs of holly, it’s time for the BA to turn to one of our favourite annual traditions: 7-on-7 indoor soccer starts this Thursday! We have a lot of stuff we want you to know, so before you get too deep into your favourite Christmas movies, whether that includes Detective John McClane or Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King, please take a few minutes to have a read of this important communication.
All These Things That You’ve Done
Before we get into the cold, cold business of winter, let’s review the (warm, warm?) business of summer:
Congrats to our Saturday league winners, Alex Reid’s Sunflower Steeds (Yellow) and Founders Cup winners, Rico Iglesias’ Always Playing Ketchup (Red)! In Wednesday night action, Doug Spencer’s Real Mandarin (Orange) took home double honours, winning both the league and the (yet-to-be named? Whoops!) Wednesday league cup.
Well done to Always Playing Ketchup (Red) and Brad Yetts’ Gr@$$holes (Green) for winning the awards for best team names. Yovani Sanchez’s Bubblegum Banditos (Pink) and Real Mandarin (Orange) pick up the Team SOTL award for accumulating the fewest cards in their respective seasons. The real winners are the charities you have selected, Crossroads, the Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff Foundation, and the Ottawa Food Bank, who will all be receiving donations in honour of your achievements!
And last, but certainly not least, bravo to Ed Duncan and Doug Spencer for winning the Spirit of the League awards for the Saturday and Wednesday leagues, respectively. You are true gentlemen on and off the pitch, and we are all lucky to have you as leaguemates!
Welcome Newbies!
First order of (new) business, a warm welcome to the newest members of the BA Soccer League! You will soon find out what everybody else here knows, this is a league unlike any other. As you have no doubt been told (hopefully a number of times), we place great emphasis here on keeping things fun, friendly and respectful every single week. We know you’ll enjoy your first season in the league and implore you to make at least a few appearances at the (very nearby) Bad Alibi pub to get to know your league mates, be they teammates or future teammates. In addition to great food and drink, don’t forget that we give away great prizes at the pub each and every week that only pub dwellers… er… goers… are eligible to win.
Expansion (the good kind!)
While it’s true that most of us have been continuously expanding over the years, the winter BA league is expanding in a much more literal sense, going from 8 teams last year to 10 this season! This is only made possible by a change in venue; we are moving to the brand new Orleans Dome at Garneau High School, 6588 Carrière St, Orléans, ON (at Carriere and Orleans Blvd), allowing us to play 5 games in a night. As always, the BA gametimes are still unbeatable, with 3 games at 8:30 p.m. and 2 games at 9:30 p.m. each Thursday night, all the way from now until the last day of the season on May 8th. Buckle up! You will, of course, see the dome for yourself on Thursday night but expect an improvement in lighting, playing surface and ambient temperature. If you have indoor soccer shoes, they are ideal for this surface, but outdoor soccer cleats will work as well. There are washrooms just outside the dome as you enter from Carriere St. Important note: parking is located behind the school, off Carriere St. Go around the school and you should see it. As for how difficult it will be to find a spot, we aren’t sure yet. It is highly recommended that you arrive a little early (say 15 minutes) to allow for what could be a difficult parking situation. The dome is very busy with other sports before and at the same time as our soccer games. To be honest, we aren’t totally sure what to expect in this regard, so please make a habit of arriving early to avoid being late for your game. We can’t officially recommend the strategy of telling your wife that your game starts at 8:00 but it’s been proven to work!
Rosters
Somehow, we did it again! Yeah, maybe it took a pinch of blackmail, a batting of eyelashes, a dollop of threats, but we managed to convince ten of our members to manage a team. The rest of you, please go easy on them. That said, for accountability’s sake, here are their names and home addresses. No wait, just their names:
- Green – Alex Martel
- Pink – Alex Reid
- Yellow – Brad Yetts
- White – Bruno Paltrinieri
- Maroon – Maroun Boutros
- Orange – Ed Duncan
- Black – Nick Desforges
- Light Blue – Rhys Williams
- Red – Ron Garson
- Dark Blue – Yovani Sanchez
You can find your team and game info on TeamSnap (see additional note below). The full list of teams can also be found on the website. Once again, a reminder that your first act of kindness towards your manager can be to show up EARLY for your first game (and even all the rest of the games), to let them sort out shirts, introduce new people and maybe even talk some basic tactics?
TeamSnap
Please accept your invitation to TeamSnap, whether you prefer using the website or the phone app, it is a very valuable tool and takes (a bit of) the pain out of managing. First and foremost, PLEASE set your availability as far into the future as possible. If you believe you will be attending the next month’s worth of games, set your attendance for those games – you can always change it if something comes up. If you know you will be missing games, please mark those ASAP; it is vital for your manager to know early in the week to procure a replacement if needed. It’s also a nice way to communicate with your teammates, discuss tactics, plan post-game beers, etc.
Oh, Spare Us, Please!
Most of you know Dave Willey and Yanic Giroux, but for those who do not, you really should consider raising a glass at the pub with these fine gents. They do the tireless work of coordinating the spares each week, which requires monitoring rosters (you may notice them hanging out in your TeamSnap even if they aren’t on your team), cross-referencing the missing players with the players on the spares list and then doing some incredible mental gymnastics to figure out how to properly match the supply with the demand. We are grateful to have them working for us rather than wasting their talent solving global macroeconomic issues. Joking aside, what they do is not easy, and we ask that you help make it easier for them by marking your availability early!
Pick a Team Name and a Charity
This will be handled by the managers, but they will be asking you to come to consensus on two things for your team. First, we would like you to pick a witty team name that reflects the shirt colour you have been given. Secondly, and on a related note, we’d like you to select a charity to “play for” this season – at the end of the year we will recognize the best team name and the team that received the fewest (yellow/red) cards over the course of the season and make a donation to your charity of choice. We hope this gives you extra incentive to think of a great name and play like a true gentleman all season long.
The Bad Alibi
As it was last year, The Bad Alibi is our official pub of choice for post-game beverages, chatter, and re-carbulating. If you haven’t yet had their wings or all 14 or so flavours of their wings (Korean BBQ is a fan favourite), you are missing out – they are up there with the best in town. And at $10/lb, a deal exclusively for us on Thursday nights, free nachos for each table and a great selection of local craft beers, they make it really easy to continue your Thursday night with your favourite athletes. Besides that, showing up to the pub decreases the chances of everyone complaining about that pass you should have made to a wide-open teammate.
The BA Code of Conduct
Yes, we say this every season, but just call us suckers for the classics. The BASL is known as one of Ottawa’s absolute best recreational leagues when it comes to sportsmanship and camaraderie – this includes equal respect for teammates and opponents alike (within a few years those opponents will be your teammates), as well as referees.
Remember, we do love a good and competitive atmosphere, and recognize that everyone has a bad day from time to time – there will be slip-ups – but anyone who develops a pattern of rash challenges, abusive behaviour, or just general lack of respect for the league’s goal of a fun and friendly atmosphere, will stick out like a sore thumb and will be dealt with swiftly and accordingly. This is our BA code of conduct. New players, now you know. Returning members, you certainly know this, and we are counting on you to set the example for newer players.
That’s it for now! Thank you all once again for joining us for another great season, we can’t wait to see you on the turf! Keep yourselves warm and your beverages cold!
Your BA Executive Team