Toronto Uncovered

Posts Tagged ‘Ultimate Frisbee’

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Last year I wrote a post reviewing different sports leagues in Toronto. The TCSSC (Toronto Central Sports and Social Club) is definitely the main league organizer and probably offers the widest variety of different sports, nights and times.  One would hope that the largest organizer would be organized themselves, setting good examples for other companies and delivering strong league services. Unfortunately, that is a hope that they continue to dash.  In the years I have played with them, I have never been overly amazed at their level of organization, communication or customer relations. They are often more expensive than other leagues, ranging in cost from $100 for an individual to upwards of $800-$900 for some teams. I continued to play with them because I was able to overlook their inadequacies and focus on the fun and good times of the games I was playing.  Until now..

This Winter season we signed up a team for our 4th season of Sunday night Ultimate Frisbee.  We are in the rec league, which is described by the TCSSC as

“almost no players will have experienced at an organized level of the sport, most having not played at all”.

This fit our description pretty well.  We were signing up to learn and have fun.  As the season got underway, we realized we were losing pretty badly each week against teams that had definitely played before, and were very well organized (ie. running drills during time outs).  Some skill differentiation between teams is to be expected,  but the real deal breaker for me was finding out that at least 2 of the teams are actually comprised  of TCSSC employees. They are literally doing somersault catches and boasting that they usually play at the intermediate or advanced level.  WTF?

Being a letter-writer by nature, I wrote the TCSSC a concerned and less than impressed email yesterday. The captain of the 1st place team responded saying,

“We happened to get a couple new players this season who have proved to be quite good, as well our team as a whole seems to be getting better at the game too.” and “We figured we would be good this season but we didn’t think we’d blow away all the teams (and we don’t have a perfect season, 1 tie and 1 loss)” out of a total of 9 games played.

The team in 2nd place is also comprised of TCSSC employees, winning 7 of their 9 games.

M point is this: People sign up to play because they are hoping to be competitive and to have some fun. From time to time its expected you will come up against a team that is probably out of your division. To face crushing defeats week after week is not so much fun and it is unacceptable that these dominant offenders are the organizers of the league itself. Surely they know the guidelines for each divisions, and surely they also know their skill set before they sign up. I honestly feel that our Sunday “games” are their practice. Why would we want to continue to pay hundreds of dollars to the TCSSC only to have them negate their own guidelines and rules and wipe the floor with us on a weekly basis? Where is the fun in that?

I am writing this because I am slightly outraged, and feel that anyone reading this post should be aware of the current situation. I am not sure if this has been happening in any other leagues but welcome feedback and discussion.

A couple of years ago I became extremely restless with my usual routine of work, home, work, home, work. Even though I went out with friends on the weekends, and would hit the gym when the mood struck,  my boredom was definitely mounting. I started looking into sports teams and activities in and around Toronto. In the last two years,  I have captained, co-captained, and played on a number of different teams and absolutely love it.

There are two main companies that cater to organized sports in Toronto. Toronto Central Sports and Social Club (TCSSC) and Not So Pro Sports (NSP). Most of my experience is with the TCSSC. They are the larger organizer of the two and have more sports, locations, and availability. They are fairly well organized when it comes to  the schedules and games, however, their head office is close to Yorkdale, making it difficult to pick up and drop off equipment. I also find that they are typically more expensive than NSP, although it seems their pricing has started to drop. Not So Pro, on the other hand, is a little bit smaller, but a very reliable and well run company. They recently started expanding the sports they offer, providing a  solid alternative to the TCSSC.

Dodgeball was my first team. Dodgeball is best described as being as much fun as you remember in grade school, only now you actually know how to wail a ball hard enough to scare your opponents.  I’m not going to lie, our first season out was a little rough. We had our asses handed to us on a silver platter.  Fast forward four seasons, we have moved up from the recreational to the advanced level, and are now sitting pretty in first place.  As you might imagine, dodgeball can get a little heated at times. I mean, you ARE whipping the balls at people as hard as you possibly can. There have been moments where I honestly thought an argument over a play/point might come to blows. But this just adds to the fun and intensity that is dodgeball.

Last Summer we decided to move our love for sports outdoors and formed softball and beach volleyball teams. Softball was a lot of fun, and a total beer league, however, because we weren’t exactly top notch players, and Toronto has a limited number of playable diamonds, some of the games were either really late or really far away. Organizing number of cars and rides is a good idea before you sign up. Last Spring (like most others in Toronto) was pretty wet. We played most of our initial games in the cold rain. Take this into account before signing up for the Spring leagues. Fair weathered players should hold off until Summer.

The same can be said for volleyball – the Spring weather was pretty brutal at times. Some nights the sand was so cold we actually wore socks. Last year we played volleyball with the TCSSC, however,  Not So Pro is the better volleyball organizer hands down.  All NSP beach volleyball is at Ashbridges Bay (instead of the smelly Docks), and there are more teams and competitive players.

If you are having a hard time picking one sport, consider trying All Sports or Multi-Sport. This is offered exclusively through the TCSSC and allows you to play a different sport each week. Sports include: Basketball, Volleyball, Dodgeball, European Handball, Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, and a few made up sports like Handoccer  (a personal favourite) and Rugbee Basketball.  Most of the sports are a good work out and let you change things up weekly. During the Winter, all sports are played inside, however, in Spring and Summer most games are moved outdoors.

Ultimate Frisbee was the most recent addition to my repertoire. During the Winter, the TCSSC has league play on BMO field . In Spring and Summer, we relinquish BMO to the Toronto Football Club,  although I’m still not convinced their skill level is much higher than ours. Indoor or out, I absolutely love Ultimate and look forward to playing it next season.

I have met a ton of people by joining Toronto sports teams, and  have managed to stay in great shape without going crazy from gym boredom. If you’re looking for something to do this coming season, I would highly recommend signing up. You can sign up as either a team or individual. No excuses. Hope to see you out there!