Quinte welcomes new sports club

By Shelby Wye

While the playground days are over, a new club offers a chance for adults to have their own brand of recess.

The Quinte sports and social club (QSSC) is a sports league created, where the only requirement is that club members are over 19 and they have a good attitude.

“The goal is to have fun, and the best part is that we always go for a beer after the game,” said Matt Linton, the sport manager of QSSC.

The sports and social league isn’t a new concept. There are already other SSC clubs across Canada. The SSC began in Ottawa in 2001, and can now be found across Canada, including Windsor, Vancouver and also Kingston.

The Kingston SSC is the largest sports provider in the city. The league has around 1700 people participating each week in the various sports they offer. Linton is hoping to bring that kind of participation in the Quinte area.

“This league is the number one way for adults to make new friends,” said Linton, “It’s great. Even outside the league, you start recognizing people at the bar, on the street.”

Linton said their club noticed that Quinte had a lot of sports, but they were all either age specific, gender specific or competitive-only. He is hoping the QSSC will fill that gap, since they welcome anyone as long as they are of drinking age.

The QSSC currently offers kickball, soccer, beach volleyball and then an “all sorts of sports” league. Members are welcomed to register as a single player, with a friend or even with an entire team. Specific prices for team registration and individual registration can be found at qssc.ca.

As the numbers grow. Linton says that more sports can be added. Come winter, sports like dodgeball and hockey will be included.

QSSC will be based in Belleville as the club starts out. They use public fields for their games, including a volleyball pit at Loyalist College and a baseball diamond at a local school.

The QSSC will be hosting a free preview day, coming up this Saturday. Registration for this event is free and can be done online. Linton said that already 30-40 people have registered already.