IMPORTANT MESSAGE: TUC Fall Indoor Leagues and Winter Indoor Leagues Update

Dear Members,

The Toronto Ultimate Club continues to monitor COVID-19 developments in Toronto and beyond.

On January 5th, the Province of Ontario returned to a modified Step 2 of Ontario's Roadmap to Reopen to "blunt" the surge of OMICRON cases, at least until January 26th. Under the modified Step 2 of the Roadmap to Reopen, all indoor sports and recreational fitness facilities were closed as a public health measure, resulting in TUC cancelling all indoor programming until January 26th.

For the last couple of weeks, TUC has been liaising with venue providers regarding refunds/credits for the 21-day mandated indoor facilities closure and looking at ways to complete the Fall Indoor Season while minimally impacting the Winter League season.

2021 Fall Indoor Leagues

TUC leadership feels it is vital to complete the Fall Indoor Season and crown 2021 Fall Indoor League Champs somehow! The survey TUC sent out to the Fall Indoor League participants shows people are in favour of a one-day playoff date to close off the season.

We want to make that happen - and to do so, we're excited to announce that on Sunday, January 30th (afternoon between 12 pm and 5 pm), TUC will host the 2021 Fall Indoor League Championship "a la Sudbury's SnowPlate" at St. Patrick's (just down the road from Monarch) to crown the following league champions:

1. Tuesday League
2. Wednesday Parity League
3. Thursday Elite League
4. Sunday Masters League

The top 2 teams, based on the standings as of December 17th, will face off to be the league champs. The remaining teams/players in that league will be invited to watch and or play a pick-up game alongside the championship game.

TUC staff will be in touch with each league to provide more details regarding the championship on January 30th.

2022 Winter League Season Start Delayed

For all 2022 Winter Leagues set to start the week of January 24th, the start date is currently pushed back by at least one (1) week to the week of January 31st. Please note that for the Monday West League @ Lamport, the Winter League will begin as scheduled on February 28th.

21-Day Mandated Facility Closure Refunds/Credits

To ensure we continue to provide our members with value for their registration fees, TUC will be issuing refunds (less 10% admin fee) and credits per our refund policy for the 21 days of the Ontario Government-mandated closure as follows:

1. Adult Leagues:
   1. The refund is based on the cost savings (reimbursement) for the venue for the mandated shutdown for the particular league.
   2. The cost-saving (reimbursement) is divided by the number of total teams (including any HAT teams) in the particular league.
   3. If the league has a HAT team or the league itself is a HAT league, the cost-saving (reimbursement) per team is divided by the number of individuals on the team to determine the individual registration credit/refund.
2. Junior Programs and Leagues:
   1. The refund/credit is based on the number of weeks missed due to the mandated shut down and the program's cost per week (all Junior leagues and programs have a cost/week of ~$15/week).

Details of the refund/credit amount per league or program are provided below:

*** Lamport: League start date was 13 December 2021 (4 weeks later than planned/advertised) and the end date is 21 February 2022.

Based on our Refund Policy, we are offering the following three options to our members concerning their 2021 Fall Indoor League or Program "refund":

1. The full refund amount is applied as a credit on Zuluru to your TUC account (so there is no physical exchange of cash and safeguards our cash flow).
   1. Credits for teams, team captains can request that the credit be split amongst the rostered (full-time) team members via providing a list to TUC.
2. The refund amount, less 10% admin fee or $5 surcharge, whichever is greater, is issued to the payment card on which the purchase was made.
3. The refund can also be transferred to TUC as a donation (see note below about communications on the reason for the ask of donation).

Please note that these credits/refunds will be issued by the end of January.

As a reminder, TUC is a not-for-profit, and our revenue generation is through membership and league fees. Not-for-profit models are designed to break even year-over-year. As we have communicated out over the past two years, we have been running at a deficit and leveraging the field fund to cover the deficit. Strides have been made to reduce the deficit by increasing league fees to have leagues run cost-neutral; however, we are still in the transition towards reducing this operational deficit. Without revenue, our business operations cannot be maintained to provide services to the club (liaising with venues, preparing and scheduling for the upcoming seasons, staying current on protocols to ensure a safe return to play, etc.).

Lastly, we have such a unique community built by every one of our valued members. It is hard times like these that call on the strength of the community to pull through. Suppose players and teams wish to help support the club and fellow members. In that case, they can e-mail back their credit/refund as a donation to help support TUC during this challenging time so that we may continue to enjoy ultimate in Toronto once we get through this ongoing pandemic. If this is something you would like to do, please send us a message at adults@tuc.org.

Thank you all for your kindness and support.

We look forward to taking the fields together again soon!

Stay safe,

Jo Malisani
Executive Director