Coo from the Coop for the week of July 7th

As we head into July, we celebrate a great first year at the Backyard.  It has been a fantastic year for cornhole, and with the Provincials scheduled for the end of the month, it will be the last event before our Team Saskatchewan heads on the road to Maple Ridge, BC.  The Provincial weekend is FREE for people to play in and will begin Thursday night with both a social and competitive division for mixed doubles.  Friday night will be the only Friday in the summer when we will have the Funholio on an actual Friday.  On Saturday, the FREE events return with three singles divisions and three doubles.  We know playing cornhole every week can be expensive, so the goal is to take down that barrier and give everyone the ability to come out and throw in the Provincial event for FREE.

The past year in the Backyard has been a real learning experience as we try to navigate through trying to provide different opportunities to play in various events. We saw the Backyard host a band as they performed for 95 people and played a switch on a Friday night.  Our goal is to try to bring a band in once a month in the fall to play while we throw some bags.

We played two Backyard Cups (Ryder Cup) and already have the next one scheduled for November 02, 2025. This exciting team format guarantees a great time – Mark your calendars.

With every week beginning with Ladies Night on Monday, competitive tiers on Tuesday, and Newbie/Beginners Night on Wednesday, the club was busy with players every night. We also hosted a Regional once a month if the league play and tourneys were insufficient for people.

At times, we may have had too many events and sometimes, we might have scheduled them on a weekend that was not the best, but hopefully, year two will be better.  Two events that I am excited about happened in June. I think the sky’s the limit for these two events in the future.

The first was the Lady BOSS of the Toss.  This event was for Ladies Only and happened on June 09, 2024.  This event was intended to bring together women from all the different tiers to play against each other.  It was the first time we ever ran an event like this and was a great success.  The ladies were welcomed to the club with a morning mimosa and a fantastic day of throwing against each other. This event is scheduled for next year, so mark it on your calendar as May 04, 2025.  We aim to add some prize money to next year’s event and hopefully fill the venue with ladies from all over the country.

The second event was hosted this past weekend and it was the first ever Backyard Throwdown.  We had teams from Saskatoon, Medicine Hat, Kamloops, and Weyburn compete in this amazing format that can have anyone win money. We handed out $3600 in prize money in three different divisions. The format has you playing round-robin games to determine what bracket you play in for the money. The team from Kamloops won the C, while the team from Saskatoon won the B side. Patches and Bonnie P from Regina took the main prize as they beat the favored Dream Crushers (Newson and Caesar) in the final.

This year’s attendance is not what we hoped for, but I think it being a long weekend hampered the attendance.  So, in learning from this year, we have scheduled this event for a week earlier next year.  June 21st, 2025 is the date. With the date move and hopefully adding $10,000 to the prize pool, we can grow this event to 100 teams and move it outside.

With only one month to go until the provincials, I am not going to make any Power Rankings, but I will give you a heads-up that in the next few weeks’ blog, I will be breaking down each event and who I feel has the best shot at winning the Provincial titles.

On the Provincial front, the Lady BOSS of the TOSS was the event where we crowned the ladies Provincial champions. In Tier 5, or the “Penguin”  division, we saw a regular from the Wednesday league come out and surprise everyone. Joann P won her first title. Lynette won the “, Tier 4 division, and Crystal Bittman, the Women and Youth Development Director for the SCA won the Hawk, Tier 3 division.  Congrats to all the competitors.

My name is Kevin Bittman, and I am on the board of the SCA and a 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 to 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.