Cornhole club reflects on opening season

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The first season of Strathmore’s new cornhole league has wrapped up following a successful 10-week season, according to organizers. 

Lance Smith, who leads the board for the Strathmore Huskers, said the club averaged over 51 people coming out to play each week, with 137 different people registered for the season. 

“We (originally) were wondering if we would be averaging maybe 20 to 30 people a night, so to average a little over 50 was really good,” he said. “After a couple weeks, we kind of split it so that we had our stronger players playing with weaker players each night, and it kind of seemed to balance the teams and avoid any runaways and stuff like that, so there were a lot of competitive games.”

Smith added the team behind the events has formed a board of directors and will soon be applying for status as a society in order to be eligible for grant funding, which would be put towards hosting a regional tournament.

To an event like that, cornhole clubs from across Alberta and Saskatchewan would be invited to come to Strathmore to play. 

Regarding regular operations, Smith said the club does not intend to change much, as the system they had running for their first season was working as intended. 

“As far as the week-to-week running of it goes, it works so well the way it was. I think we’re just going to use the old adage, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said. “I think people liked the cash payouts we did every week. And of course, for the tournament we gave pretty nice payouts for that as well.”

Smith reported players from effectively all demographics came out to play over the course of the season, from young adults, to seniors, to those with disabilities. 

Regarding attendance for the upcoming season, Smith is expecting to lose several players who had signed up as regulars due to other sports starting up, though he is optimistic the club will grow in numbers overall. 

“I’ve already had people messaging me this week that have seen it on Facebook and they want to know when the new league is starting, where and how do they sign up,” he said. “People seem to like the format that they can come out to play with different people and socialize. It was a very laid-back atmosphere and everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was nice to have something extra to do in town.”

The new season is scheduled to begin April 4, resuming operations at the Strathmore Agricultural Society on Tuesday evenings.