Autumn Registration Guarantee

March 18, 2020 - 10 days ago

Our number one goal is to get you and your team back to playing social sport with Urban Rec, but we understand you might have some questions about registering, and we want to provide you some certainty when deciding whether to register for our upcoming seasons.

You and your team continuing to commit and register for our upcoming competitions, is all we have to rely on. As a small business, we are relying on your continued commitmnt to playing, to continue to operate – scary, but true. Without our teams, Urban Rec is in trouble. So THANK YOU first and foremost for supporting us. 

Autumn Leagues:

• All Autumn leagues will be delayed to accommodate our anticipated league pause.
• Effective March 19, 2020, all our new Autumn start dates are set.
• If we are required to pause our programming for longer than 5 weeks from the new Autumn start dates, you and your team will be entitled to a full refund.
• In this instance, please contact [email protected] to be removed from the league, and have your refund processed. 
• If you are nervous about paying in full, consider using a team deposit secure your team spot, this will be valuable to help us plan a re-launch.

Summer Leagues:

• Currently, all games will be rescheduled, not cancelled.
• You will get your intended value for money, we want to guarantee that, best we can.
• If this situation develops, this policy could change.

Despite the dubious nature of our world right now, we want to ensure you that continuing to participate in your social sports with Urban Rec next season - will not leave you feeling short changed.

As you can appreciate this evolving situation means things could change. We are planning for all leagues to go ahead as planned. But if this cannot happen, we are not going to keep your money, If we cannot genuinely provide a service.

COVID-19 Daily Update

March 16, 2020 - 13 days ago

We completely understand that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) is causing concern and uncertainty among everyone. We are diligently following the advice of Department of Health (Australian Government) and Health NSW and as to new measures we should take.

This blog post will be updated DAILY, to ensure our members have the necessary information they need ABOUT URBAN REC LEAGUES AND EVENTS. 

Updated Tue 17 Mar, 2020 at 1pm. 

TUESDAY 17TH MARCH – SUNDAY 5TH APRIL (LEAGUES PAUSED): Today, we had to make the devastating decision to pause all leagues and events for Urban Rec in Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle.  This decision comes in light of the current situation with the coronavirus COVID-19, and our deepest desire to do what is morally correct for our members and the community. We will be sending out communication to all our members on Wednesday, 01 April updating everyone of the situation at that time. 

It goes without saying that our HQ team here in Sydney - Mads, Linds, Danny and Raj - are deeply saddened by the news that we will not be seeing your smiling, cheerful faces at our leagues over the next few weeks.  We will be working diligently in head office (or from a home office) think-tanking and brainstorming how to make your experience absolutely exceptional when we are able to welcome you back and start social sport again!

Updated Mon 16 Mar, 2020 at 1pm. 

MONDAY 16TH MARCH (LEAGUES GOING AHEAD): If you have been travelling overseas as of midnight last night, you should be self quarantining for 14 days and and we ask you to not attend any of our leagues. At this stage, government has not closed schools or universities, but is asking all non-essential organised sporting events above 500 people to be cancelled. As our leagues and events have on average, about 30 people in attendance, we do not feel it is necessary to cancel these leagues or events. 

Updated Fri 13 Mar, 2020 at 5pm. 

FRIDAY 13TH MARCH (LEAGUES GOING AHEAD): Today our Government announced advice to cancel gatherings above 500 people (this is not a ban). At this stage, they have not advised the general public to stop their usual activities like going to work, grocery shopping and attending recreational activities. With precautionary measures in place, Urban Rec activities will go ahead as scheduled and all Urban Rec policies will remain in effect including the default and refund policy.

UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WILL LEAGUES BE PLACED ON HOLD?

1. If the situation becomes extreme, and small gatherings are banned (or advised to cancel) by our government.
2. If our venues decide to close 
3. If we are seeing a mass amount of forfeiting games, we may decide to pause leagues. 

In any case, if we do decide to pause leagues, we will ensure your games are played when it is safe and appropriate to do so. We will reschedule (not cancel) your games. 

WHAT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO PLAY AT THE MOMENT?

That’s completely your choice, and completely acceptable. Please work with your team Captain and let them know. If your team does not have enough players, and wishes to forfeit your game, please contact us ASAP [email protected] (Forfeiting a game, means telling us with enough time to notify the opposition, please don’t leave it to the last minute and leave your opposition hanging – a default. 

How Urban Rec Is Keeping You Healthy: COVID-19

March 13, 2020 - 16 days ago

We completely understand that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) is causing concern and uncertainty among everyone. We are diligently following the advice of Department of Health (Australian Government) and Health NSW and as to new measures we should take.

Today our Government announced advice to cancel gatherings above 500 people (this is not a ban). At this stage, they have not advised the general public to stop their usual activities like going to work, grocery shopping and attending recreational activities. 

With precautionary measures in place, Urban Rec activities will go ahead as scheduled and all Urban Rec policies will remain in effect including the default and refund policy. If the situation becomes extreme, and small gatherings are banned (or advised to cancel) by our government, we will ensure your games are played when it is safe and appropriate to do so. 

The decision to advise against mass public gatherings is one we understand, as those event attract thousands of people who are often required to travel to attend. 

Urban Rec would like to advise the steps we are taking to ensure our members remain as healthy as possible. 

• It goes without saying, if you are sick, stay at home and get better - especially if you have been travelling.
• If you don't want to shake hands at the end of the game, we understand - a fun and friendly toe-tap is a great way to show your thanks - or a virtual high-five. 
• We will be making sure work with our venues and keep everything hygienic and clean.
• Any bibs or equipment will be cleaned weekly
• We will be supplying hand sanitizer to each of our event hosts and in each of our kits 

Most of all, the best thing you can do to protect yourself from illness, is remain active and remain healthy. 

Urban Rec Netball Etiquette

March 11, 2020 - 17 days ago

Urban Rec’s point of difference from almost all other sport providers, is that we care about the experience had by absolutely everyone involved within our leagues, including our staff.

As with all Urban Rec leagues, we do not tolerate dickheads. We are inclusive, and welcome all levels of ability, and as a consequence – we are pretty tough on any team or player who goes against our culture. 

To make things super clear, we have compiled a list of Urban Rec Netball player etiquette. Keep these points in mind, when playing in any of our competitions. It’s the Urban Rec way… 

DON’T

• Defend your opposing player face to face outside the goal circle, it's an old school netball tactic an it's way too intense for social netball.
• When defending a shot, if you lose balance, don’t use this as an opportunity to intimidate the shot. 
• Go for a pass like it's an AFL catch, if there is contact on a pass/catch like this, our Event Hosts will always award posession to the attacking team.
• If you are the team who hit the ball out of play, be the team to collect it. Doesn’t matter if it’s not your throw in. 
• Trash talk the opposition or your own team! Goes without saying. Don’t be a dick.  
• Make calls or question a call of one of our hosts – This creates a shitty atmosphere and ruins our staff members evening and other players evenings. Wait till quarter time and have an adult conversation about your concerns. 
• Don’t make passive aggressive calls under your breath, talk to your host at quarter time. 
• Be way too competitive that it could be mistaken as aggression.

DO’s 

• Always put the enjoyment and respect of your opponents, ahead of your desire to win.
• Remember your Event Host is not a referee.  
• Socialise with other teams, they are not the enemy.
• Be honest – if you stepped, or contacted a player by accident, step out of play and let the opponent take a pass.
• Support and coach players that seem to be struggling.
• Play to the ability of your opposition, give beginner players and extra second, but compete when you see a player who knows the game/rules well. 
• Win and lose graciously – its fine to be good and its fine to win, but don’t enjoy dominating a team so bad that it spoils their game (points for and against is NEVER used in our standings). Same goes when you are on the losing side, its fine to lose and it really doesn’t matter if you’ve lost so do so with a smile on your face, you can still have a good time surrounded by mates.
• Cheer for the opposition if they pull off something spectacular.
• Always shake your oppositions hands

Do you play in our Netball leagues? Do you think we have missed something? Is there any behaviour or bad etiquette you would like to see abolished? Send us a message. [email protected] or contact your League Manager.

Price Increase 2020

March 10, 2020 - 19 days ago

Urban Rec has increased our prices this season, and we would like to take this opportunity to explain. 

As a club we have not increased our team fees after almost 9 years of being in business. In that time every over-head associated with running our leagues and sports club have inflated beyond what is sustainable with the current registration fee rate. Although the fee increase to our members happened from one season to the next, the costs incurred to us as a club has been rising for years.

On average the fee increase is $100 for the entire 10 (or 12) game season, in other words $10 per team per game. On average teams have a roster of 9 players per team, which means the passed down cost incurred by the average member it $1.10 per week. 

The three most obvious overhead increases are court hire, staffing and insurances.

• Court hire – Very simply the prices of fields and courts in Sydney have increased. Venue hire is a competitive market, and these venue’s have a monopoly. We do our best to provide the best venues for you guys, but field and court hire has increased annually.. What’s more we are one of the few clubs that will guarentee rained out, forfeited, or missed games are replayed. This is a cost we cost. 
• Staffing – Our event hosts are paid fairly, and are a valued part of the team. We believe we have the best staff in the business, and we will always continue to reward them for their time and investment. 
• Insurance  – Without insurance we are legally not allowed to operate, as the leagues grow, the member base grows, so do our insurance premiums. 

Although we are not technically a not-for-profit, our business model is run as such, with all profits re-invested in the club. We rely on volume and return customers - not high profits. 

We are really competitive when it comes to registration fees compared to the vast majority of our Industry. Our mission is to make sport accessible for everyone. 

The other stuff we do as part of your fees? Urban Rec likes to offer all kinds of free or discounted opportunities for our members, things like; UR Awesome, Pub Nights, discounts at clubhouses, free jugs seasonally, Pri-Rego Promo’s, FreePlay nights, and social events (which run without profit also). 

The bottom line is, we truly believe what we deliver to our members exceeds any of our competitors in the sport and fitness industry – and we will always continue to offer value for money for our members. 

Urban Rec launches in The Shire

March 5, 2020 - 23 days ago

The problem with organised sport is that it’s full of douche bags and it’s normally not organised (the irony). Just because you were not destined to play for Australia, doesn’t mean you should have stopped playing. 

Urban Rec is a judgement free, beginner friendly, fun-first-no-dickheads sports club. Now we are coming to The Shire. An exciting collaboration with The Rec Club in Miranda, an influx of niche sports, and a sprinkle of crazy. 

These leagues are especially for the mother-funners out there that want to get fit, but not take themselves too seriously. Do not apply if you think winning at the expense of your oppositions enjoyment is cool. 

What is cool, is the new sports on offer;

• Wednesdays – Mixed Multisport (A potluck and a new sport every week)
• Thursdays – Mixed Dodgeball
• Thursdays – Mixed Hockey
• Thursdays – Mixed Euro Handball
• Thursday – Mixed Volleyball

The end result here is a enviable amount of incidential fitness, an affordable alternative to running on a treadmill, the opportunity to make new mates as an adult – yes that can happen – *gasp*. Oh, and you will remember why you secretly used to love chasing balls around – even though you have two left feet. 

Options glaore. You can pay a $150 deposit and lock in your team – or you can join as an individual and be matched with new friends, or you can bring a friend (for free*), and join a team together. 

Sport, for fun. 

*yes, for free. This season we are offering a ‘bring-a-friend-for-free’ deal to help make the decision easy. Pick a league and team, register – email us, and we’ll add your friend for free. TA-DA. 

How to win a $1,000 Bar Tab

February 27, 2020 - one month ago

The problem is Captains never get the credit they deserve. They are always hustling to get everyone to pay, they have to do all kinds of horrific maths, and quite often they can end up short changed. WHATS WORSE, if you captain is disorganised they can miss out on rego, and you can be shunted from the league. 

Pri-rego is how we guarentee your spot. It’s ONLY for teams that play already and it’s a chance to lock in their spot ahead of the general public. It’s a good thing – but to make it better, we always try and reward the Captains that make the effort to be organised. 

THIS SEASON (AUTUMN 2020) WE WENT CRAY. We approached 10 of our clubhouses across Sydney and got you a $1,000 BAR TAB. There is only ONE, and last season we had only 66 teams using pri-rego, so your odds are good. 

How to enter

1. Use Pri-Rego, by accessing the link provided to you and your team mates in week 7, 8, 9 (no excuses for missing it)
2. Pay in full – sorry not for new teams or deposits
3. We will be collating your team name in a bucket, and on April 30*, we will draw and announce the winners. 

Can you enter late, if you miss the pri-rego deadline? No, that would be silly. 

Can you change into another league using pri-rego? Not techincally, but email us within your pri-rego period and we will see what we can do. 

This story is going to end very well for a lucky group of friends who will experience either a) the biggest day/night ever, or b) the most distance covered in a pub crawl. 

GOOD LUCK. 

Urban Rec launches in The Hills

January 24, 2020 - 2 months ago

Big news for little ole’ Urban Rec. This year we have announced new sports and new leagues in The Hills. Based off our current members interests we have decided to launch with just a few sports. 

But even better than that – we have gone all out, and make our team rego fee’s HALF PRICE. Crazy. We are that sure you are going to love it. THAT SURE that you will be back next season, that we are doing this one-time offer. 

LEAGUES ON OFFER

• Mixed Indoor Soccer – 5 aside – $497 for 10 games
• Mixed Indoor Volleyball – 5 aside – $497 for 10 games

FREEPLAY EVENTS

• Volleyball FreePlay – Wed 29th Jan
• Soccer FreePlay – Wed 29th Jan

INDIVIDUAL REGO

As usual, we will be offering individual teams for both our leagues. This is also priced at a lower cost of $89 for the first season. AMAZING, RIGHT? Our indie teams usually fill pretty quick, so make sure you don’t miss out. You can read more about individual registration here. 

The rest, is still unwritten. 

6 Reasons Why You Should Just Stick To Sport

January 13, 2020 - 2 months ago

If you have ever felt underlying resentment towards running (or even working out), then you should look into doing something that distracts you from what is ultimately happening. Playing sport is the ultimate way to get fit without noticing. Then there’s the calorie counting, if you’re into that - but the sweat, the steps, and the red face says sport is the secret forgotten fitness hack.

Here are 6 reasons you should consider playing sport over any other fitness fad.... 

1. Low commitment - You only need to commit to 10 weeks, no crazy annual subscriptions. Opt in, opt out. Repeat. 
2. Accountability -  Enter your 5 team mates who need you to show up…. or they can't play, that’s one way to ensure you always show up – and you never regret it. 
3. Outdoors – Being outdoors is phenomenal for your mental and physical health. Hello healthy vitamin D. 
4. Cardio is incidental – You don't have to force it. It just happens. On average most people run 2-3km during a game of social sport. 
5. Making friends is easy and non awkward – When's the last time you approached someone on the rowing machine to introduce yourself? Exactly…. Sport is the best way to break down social barriers. 
6. Affordability? The most you will pay is $13 per game, which makes playing sport cheaper than almost all fitness classes on offer.

Choose a nearby location, find a sport you used to love, and join us for a 10 week season, starting in the next few weeks.

UPDATED SMOKE POLICY 2020

January 9, 2020 - 2 months ago

We are in the midst of an unprecedented Bushfire season which has resulted in plenty of smoke haze and plumes. We have worked hard to come up with a policy and procedures that puts our players and staff’s health first. But, we want to ensure you get the games you paid for, while working with the tight availabilty of venues. 

Flexibility with rescheduling: Our priority is making sure you get the amount of games in the season that you registered for (Usually 10). In a situation like this where some games may not be played due to smoke, this may mean we need to be creative, as some of our bookings with venues have strict time frames. If you miss games due to smoke your team may need to play a double header - or in extreme circumstances - if multiple games are postponed due to smoke we may need to play make up games on another night of the week. We will always try our best to make sure we come up with a solution that works for your team. 

Here’s how we will be handling smoke in 2020. Please note this policy is for outdoor sports, indoor sports will go ahead as usual unless you hear otherwise. 

• Firstly and most importantly if your team does not feel comfortable playing in the conditions but you have been advised that games are going ahead, let us know via email [email protected] or phone us (preferably with as much notice as possible) and we will then do everything we can to reschedule your game in the upcoming weeks. There will be no forfeit or default fees but we ask you give us as much notice as possible so we can organise a game for your opposition. Please do not let us know via the captains chat as we will endeavour to get your opposition a game and it causes confusion. 
• For the foreseeable future whilst the smoke conditions are unpredictable, we will be communicating to the Captains Chats on whether games are going ahead that night. We will endeavour to make the first call by 4pm. 
• We use this website to monitor AQI. If the AQI is above 200 we will postpone games. [Note we use this website as the NSW Health website uses a 24 hour average scale which is different to the widely used and trusted AQI Index. The numbers on the NSW website are always extremely high compared to other sites. You can read more about this here].
• If games are postponed we will try our hardest to get your new schedule to you within 2 days. 

If you have heart, lung or any health condition that may be affected by smoke we recommend you consult your doctor to see if playing sport is right for you. 

What we learnt last year that has influenced our new policy

• Often smoke haze is strong during the day, but quickly clears at night. Meaning if the smoke is touch and go, we may make a call later than usual
• We always want to continue games. If you’re keen and it’s safe to do so, games will be going ahead. Some players and teams had concerns and that’s totally fine that’s why it is always your choice to play or not.