The coo from the pigeon coop
My name is Kevin Bittman, and I am on the Board at the SCA and a proud member of the BackYard Pigeon Coop. I have been playing Cornhole for a couple of years, and I would say I am not great, but I try and get better every week. Cornhole, for me, is a fantastic community of people that, no matter your skill level, you can come out and have fun at the BackYard at the SCA.
The blog is my opinion and how I see things in Regina’s Cornhole scene. It is meant to be a way to keep people engaged in what is going on at the Backyard and the SCA. My hope is we can continue growing the game in Regina and Saskatchewan.
The BackYard at the SCA is located at 2363 2nd Avenue in Regina. The venue has eight regulation cornhole lanes and a bar and kitchen. Each week, the BackYard hosts events for all skill levels, and I will attempt to highlight some of these events and give my perspective on the club and the players in Saskatchewan.
The goal at the SCA is to get enough players to have three different tiers in every event we run so everyone has space to play at their skill level. As players get better, they can move up into a tier that represents their skill level, hoping that the top tier gets more prominent as we make space for new players at the bottom. The only impediment to having the three divisions is the players. We need enough players to come out so we have enough in each division. On Tuesday night we managed to run three divisions in Tuesday Night league night. We had four newbies play in Tier 5 (BackYard Division), we had 12 play in Tier 4 (Pigeon Division), and 9 in Tier 3 (Hawk Division). Hopefully, we can continue the trend of growing in each division. Adding tier 5 opens up the potential for some Monday-night ladies to play more on Tuesday. So fun to see.
Cornhole Canada Points
I know not everyone is interested in or understands the Point system. I think it gives you something to watch week after week. For your points to count and show up on the Cornhole Canada list or to compete at Nationals, you need to be a member of Cornhole Canada (pay your $10 registration fee) and have gained points in an event. You may think you are not good enough to attend Nationals, but you’re mistaken. At the National level, they run events at every skill level so that anyone can go and play. It is a fun time.
The more critical information about the $10 Cornhole Canada registration fee is it is your insurance if something happens to you while playing cornhole.
What do points get you? Every event that Cornhole Canada sanctions is awarded points. Tier 3 receives the most points, then tier 4, and the lowest points are awarded in tier 5. Cornhole Canada only awards tier-3 points in Open Singles and Open Doubles events. They still do award points for other events we run but are awarded at a tier 4 or 5 level, so not as many points as Open singles and Doubles. The Points system is uniform across the country to ensure every club plays by the same rules.
There are guidelines on how many different kinds of tourneys we can run and submit for points. If you want to see the points system, go to https://canadiancornholeleagues.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/cnps_point_structure.pdf.
The points matter to keep an eye on how you compare to others across Canada, but the points come into play to decide Canada’s top 16 men or women players. Every year at Nationals, one event has an Elite Top 16 Tournament for Men and Women. They compete for a $1000 winner-take-all in each event. Saskatchewan Cornhole has seen many players compete in the Elite 16. Damara and Parker both won the event in the 2022 National event. Last year, we had nine players compete in the two events. The points system is something we discuss at every Cornhole Canada meeting. We are always trying to find ways to improve it, and we think having the points system for each tier might be an excellent way to get more players engaged in the system. Our work has paid off because Scoreholio now has tier 4 and 5 leaderboards.
Friday Night Switch – FUNHOLIO is submitted as a league night and has the lowest points
Local Tournaments – Tuesday night Singles and doubles events – currently only six events per month (max 4 tier 3 events)
Regional Tournaments – Second largest points for a Tournament – one per month
Provincials – Highest points for a tournament – one per year
Enough with the boring stuff. Let’s get to the week in the BackYard. It is a small week of Club activities compared to last week, but it was an exciting Monday and Tuesday with all the new people coming out to play in the events.
Monday Ladies Fun Night – 16 Ladies came out to play, with a couple of Newbies and the return of Lynette. It was so awesome to see Lynette out and tossing again. She did not miss a beat, going 4-0 in the round-robin and finishing third with JMA JO in the bracket. Amber, shooting a 5.75 with her partner Karen F., tried their best to knock Jennifer and Michelle out of the Queen seat but came up short. Jennifer continued her outstanding play, shooting 6.39 Points Per Round (PPR) and a Differential Per Round (DPR) of 1.26 over the night. That means that Jennifer scored, on average, 1.26 points more than her opponent per round. The growth of this night is incredible, and new people are coming out every week. I look forward to what the next season (after Christmas) looks like for numbers. With the addition of standings for tier 5 at CCL, make sure you get your $10 registration paid to see how you compare to people in your skill level.
Tuesday’s Singles league – Tier 5 (BackYard Division) – 4 players battled it out, and as the night went on, they all found their groove. Jenny led the way with a 3.68 Points per round (PPR,) but everyone else was nearing a 3 PPR. Great first night for our BackYard Division. Hopefully, this tier can grow with the $15 drop-in in fee, and when season 2 starts in January, we will have a group of 12-15 players.
Tuesday’s Singles league – Tier 4 (Pigeon Division) – The return of Stich as he battled Ritzy OG to win the Pigeon title. Jason doubled dipped (Ritzy was in the King/Queen seat) with a solid 7.02 PPR on the night. All the Tier 4 players had a great night of throwing. Every week, we see everyone’s PPR creep up a little bit.
Tuesday’s Singles league – Tier 3 (Hawks Division) – Krentzy continued last week’s domination as he took down last week’s number-one player in my power ranking. Spilly battled hard but came up short, as Krentzy took down the Tuesday Hawk win. IMO, all the Hawks had an off night. There were no staggering PPR averages (for Hawks) where most Hawks were above 7.4 PPR but nobody over 7.88 PPR. But it sure made for some great games.
Friday Night – We changed the name to FunHolio because we had feedback from Newbies who said they did not know Switcholio and figured it was too advanced for them to come to play. So, in the FunHolio event, we had 62 players compete. Tony and Chris F walked away with the prize money. Bobber and Glenda played well to get to the King/Queen seat but ran out of steam in the final. Tony only comes out and plays once a month but seems to always be in the winner’s circle when he does. Lynette once again brought her partner Devin to third place finish.
Power Ranking –
TIER 3
1ST – Krentzy – We have a new player on the top of my Power rankings, as Krentzy beat Spilly on Tuesday night: great work, Parker, great throwing.
2ND – Spilly (Dylan Grane): Dylan slipped into second. I was going to cut him a little slack because he got married on Saturday, but with Parker beating him on Tuesday, I had no choice but to bump him down. Congrats, Dylan and Dana, on your marriage.
3RD – Newson moved to third again after finishing higher than his doubles partner Caesar. My guess is these two will trade spots all year until someone steps out and starts winning some tourneys.
4TH – Caesar slipped to the fourth but is still throwing very well—Happy Birthday, big guy, as Darren turned 50 on Saturday.
5TH – Patches membership is paying off as we see all his hard work pay off with a fourth-place finish in Tuesday’s league night. Good job, Andrew.
Notable Players: I have to give a shout-out to part-time thrower Tony, who seems good even though he only comes out occasionally.
Franco had to shut it down Tuesday night due to injury, but his membership is also paying off, as he is an adamant player to play against. If we could get him to stop yelling and swearing at himself. It is just a game, Franco.
Rick West only slipped out of the top 5 because he was out of town and could not play, but he is always a player to watch.
Tier 4/5 power ranking,
1ST – Stich – Jason constituency is proving too much for the other Pigeons in Tier 4/5. Jason won another Tuesday Singles Night and is still sitting on top of my tier 4/5 power ranking. Let us see if someone can knock him down a notch.
2ND – Ritzy, with a solid second place Tuesday night, has him moving up the power ranking. Ritzy shot a 6.57 PPR over Tuesday night and is getting more consistent with every night he plays. It was also his Birthday on Friday.
3RD – Bonnie Polsom – Bonnie continues to impress on Tuesday night. She threw the second-highest PPR behind Stich, and my bet is she will get over the hump and pull out a victory soon.
4TH – Ringo – Ringo is always a steady thrower, but his fourth-place finish has him slipping in my power rankings.
5TH – The Kid – I have been waiting for Lucas to make it onto a podium, and with his third-place finish, Lucas cracked my top 5. Lucas is our youngest player, but you would never guess he is only 12 when throwing the bags in the hole. Last weekend, I won a sit-and-go with the Kid, and he carried the team. Great Throwing, buddy.
Players to watch Sarah Polsom – had another excellent week with a fifth-place finish on Tuesday night.
Jennifer helped her partner win Monday night’s Fun Ladies Night.
Amber is an excellent thrower when she is on, but she came up just short against Jennifer Monday Night.
Furious George – Chris is on a steady incline with his game and is one to watch in future weeks.
Stay tuned every Sunday for a rundown of the week’s activities.
