Picking the right beer league for you

With the school year finally coming to a close, many Golden Hawk students are finding themselves swapping their track pants for shorts, replacing their Starbucks with Icecaps, and trading in their beer for … well, colder beer.

Yes, it is almost that time of year when exhausted students flock home for the long-anticipated and well-deserved four-month summer.

And after spending a great deal of the school year watching our beloved varsity sport teams, cheering from the stands, covering hard-hitting athletic stories and even participating in intramurals ourselves, we at The Cord strongly believe that just because Laurier retires for the holiday, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to either.

For some, the emerging summer means a droning nine-to-five workweek, wild patio parties, and relaxing cottage life. But for others, summer time means the beginning of another highly anticipated activity: beer leagues.

We’ve all heard about it: summer beer leagues where participants pull their focus towards the “competitive” recreational sport they’ve signed up for and the well -deserved parties after each game.

Yes, those lucky, select few who have registered for adult summer leagues will be enjoying a solid four months of chirping from the side lines, swapping jokes, shot-gunning cold shots at half time and taking their games way more seriously than they really have to.

And now at the appropriate age where we are allowed to join such leagues, many students unfortunately miss out on the hilarity because they are unaware and ill-informed of the leagues that their communities offer.

In fact, many cities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and other municipal regions offer a massive variety of adult recreation for students, like you, who are looking to pick up some extra sports and fun.

These leagues offer anything from summer ice hockey, ball hockey, basketball, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, dodge-ball, beach volleyball, inner tube water polo, tennis, even flag football and are all just begging to be filled up with eager and rowdy students.

Leagues also range from competitive to amateur to leisure and are typically cheap depending on the sport you decide to register for.

Adult summer leagues are also great opportunities to reconvene with old teammates and comrades and ultimately give students something to look forward to aside from their bi-weekly pay cheques and weekend plans.

Below is a comprised list of sport and recreation leagues that are offered in your region. Many of these leagues are filling up quickly so if you are seriously interested in getting a team together, it is strongly recommended that you register as soon as possible.

Wherever “home” may be for you, whatever sport you chose to play and whomever you decide to put on your roster, we just hope that all those hours you’re going to log in for that boring summer job will be compensated by your weekly game …and lots and lots of beer.

Regional summer pick-up leagues

Barrie Region League

• City of Barrie Adult Summer League

Brampton League

• City of Brampton Recreation

Burlington Leagues

• Burlington Amateur Sports League
• Average Joe Sports Club – Burlington

Burlington-Halton Region Leagues

• Urban Sports Club
• Average Joe Sports Club – Milton

Hamilton Region Leagues

• Hamilton Sport and Social Club
• myHamilton.ca Adult Teams, Leagues and Activities

London Leagues

• Middlesex Basketball League
• South London Giants Baseball Club
• Southwest London Adult Slo-Pitch
• London Ontario Soccer League

Mississauga Leagues

• Mississauga Sport and Social Club
• City of Mississauga Adult Recreation
• Mississauga Women’s Ball Hockey (16+)
• Iceland Adult Safe Summer Hockey

Niagara Region League

• Not So Pro Sports – Niagara

Oakville Leagues

• Oakville Basketball 3-on-3
• North Oakville Men’s Touch Football Association
• Oakville Soccer Club
• Players Ball Hockey
• Oakville Adult Safe Hockey League (ASHL)

Ottawa Region Leagues

• ORC Ottawa Adult Leagues
• Carleton University Recreation Summer Basketball League
• Ottawa Sport and Social Club

Toronto Leagues

• Toronto Sport and Social Club
• Not So Pro Sports – Toronto
• Downsview Park (The Hangar)
• Extreme Toronto Sports Club
• Toronto Dodge Ball Association
• Toronto Ultimate Club
• Dawksports Flag Football League
• Toronto Flag Football League
• Etobicoke/Scarborough Adult Safe Hockey League (ASHL)

Waterloo League

• Community Adult Recreation League (CARL)

York Region Leagues

• York Sport and Social Club
• York Region Soccer League