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Ready to take the field Diamond takes centre stage as Calm Air Cup set to begin
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, August 14, 2013
RANKIN INLET
Ten teams are set to take to the field and compete for the annual Calm Air Cup mixed slo-pitch championship this coming weekend in Rankin Inlet.
The annual event is one Nunavut's premier slo-pitch tournaments.
The Juggernauts won the 2012 Calm Air Cup before becoming the first Rankin team to travel to Iqaluit and capture the territorial banner.
Tournament spokesperson Robert Connelly said the Cup has traditionally received strong support outside of Rankin from Baker Lake and Coral Harbour, with Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet joining the scene in 2012.
He said the ultimate goal for the event is to one day have all seven Kivalliq communities field teams for the tournament.
"We'd love for the Cup to become a truly regional event and we continue to strive for that," said Connelly, adding that he understands that not every community has an active league. "Although we didn't have teams from all seven communities in 2012, we did have players from every Kivalliq community playing in the tournament."
Connelly said the Calm Air Cup provides good, fun competition between the communities, and allows people to interact and help grow the sport in the region.
He said this year's tournament will even feature two Rankin teams that don't play in the regular league, and it should be interesting to see how they fare against the established squads.
"One is ... an old-timer's team that played last year and features players who no longer play regularly," Connelly said. "And we have another team of players in their 30s, most of whom have stopped playing, who want to play some ball during the weekend, have some fun and, hopefully, get some rust out of their joints.
Connelly said the Calm Air Cup is all about participating and having fun, but also features some of the best ball played during the season.
"This past year, the more competitive teams rose to the top of the standings during round-robin play, and, once the playoffs began, it was a whole new level of play and that's usually how the tournament goes."
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