Why 12 weeks?

The AUM (the summer and spirit committees for 2010, the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee) have decided to change the length of the summer league season, going from 15 weeks to 12 weeks.  As a result, the summer league will run from May 31, 2010 to August 19, 2010.

Here are the reasons that lead to this decision:

• It gets dark very early at the end of summer
  • Since we have to end games before the sun sets, the last few games of the summer (at the end of August and beginning of September) end around 7:15pm, meaning they only last 45 minutes.  Games are even shorter when they are held in Laval and don't start until 7 pm, resulting in 15 minutes to play! It doesn't make sense for people to travel so far to play for such a short time. We also want to reduce the risk of injuries run by teams trying to stretch out the games as long as possible by playing in increasingly dark conditions.

• To ensure that the summer league schedule aligns with summer holidays (vacations and prolonged absences) / Many more games are forfeited or rescheduled at the end of the summer than at the beginning 
  • The second round of the summer takes place right in the middle of summer vacations, competitive tournaments and family events.  Many players miss games and injuries start to affect teams more by this point.  As a result, it becomes a lot more difficult for captains to field a full team.  Lots of teams forfeit games, which is not fun for their opponents who come to the field ready to play! Shortening the season by 2 weeks allows players to make a firmer commitment, and not feel like they're spread too thin.  Also, given that the end of August/early September is back to school season, this also means more traffic, more family obligations and the start of fall activities, all of which contribute to an increase in the number of games that are cancelled. 

• Overuse of natural/grass fields
  
  • The natural fields on the island of Montreal are overused, and the AUM feels that it is important to take this into consideration.  The AUM has invested a great deal of money in the last few years to improve the quality of these fields, but the frequent use of fields like those at the Douglas reduces their quality.

• Reduced availability of many fields for the third round (back to school for cégeps and universities)
  • From the beginning of August on, we are not able to rent filed times on some of our most important fields such as McGill, cégep St-Laurent, and Concordia University.  As a result, we have to limit the number of teams that can register for the summer league based on the number of fields available in the third round.  This is why most games in the third round have been played at the Douglas or at Bois-de-Boulogne - they're the only fields that are available! 

• The ability to hold playoffs during the league schedule (if the number of teams allows for this format) 
  • The End of Season tournament was originally introduced as playoffs for the summer league and to determine the overall winner of each division.  This vision was never realized, because many players weren't available for the EOS tournament, and captains often had to bring in a lot of substitutes, changing the level of play for the team.  The third round of the season will now be alloted as playoffs.  There will be two rounds, plus two weeks of playoffs (semi-finals and finals). 

• Allowing a one week "fudge factor" for rescheduling games before the back to school period
  • Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate, and sometimes we are forced to cancel games because of storms.  When this happens, the AUM always tries to offer the teams a chance to play these games another week on the same night that they normally play.  However, once school is back in session, it's often difficult for captains to field their full team to play these games.  Allowing an additional week for a "fudge factor" will give the AUM some flexibility when games need to be rescheduled. 

• Starting a week later that usual will allow the fields more time to properly dry out
  • In the past, the summer league has started the week of May 25.  Given the winters that we've had in the past few years, our grass fields have not always been ready to play on that week. Starting the summer league season before the fields are completely dry causes a lot of damage to the fields and as a result they aren't as nice for the rest of the summer either.  Starting just one week later will allow the fields an extra few days to dry out before we introduce them to our cleats.

We are very open to hearing your comments on this decision, which seems both strategic and logical to us.  Please do not hesitate to let us know what you think! c.marceau AT montrealultimate DOT ca