Urban Rec is your home for sporting leagues and social activities. In addition to a year-round league sports program we also offer our members tournaments, theme parties, and many other great experiences that are unique to Urban Rec.

We offer the following sports offerings:

Indoor: Volleyball, Basketball, Dodgeball, Floor Hockey, Indoor Soccer, Curling, Multi-Sport

Outdoor: Beach Volleyball, Slo-Pitch, Soccer, Flag Football

Becoming a member of Urban Rec is simple and free. All you need to do is create an account by clicking on the create account button on our home page. You will then start to receive a newsletter every two weeks with information about Urban Rec activities. Just click on the links and you are on your way.

We actually do! Every single player is a ref of their own actions and the actions of their teammates!  Self-officiated play puts the onus on each individual to know the rules and intended spirit of play, and work within that in terms of determining their own behaviour.  A ref can’t know everything each individual does, but each individual knows exactly what they have done and in a self-officiated league like Urban Rec provides, each player has the onus squarely on them to make calls on themselves accordingly.  We have found that the vast majority of participants in our leagues have embraced this system and err on the side of good sportsmanship while playing.

In our experience, a ref acting as “oversight” has the opposite effect of that which we intend to be the experience in Urban Rec play.  It allows players to take the accountability for their actions from their shoulders and place it on the shoulders of the ref. In other words, instead of playing to the level their conscience/better judgment dictates having been asked and accepted the responsibility to understand the rules and spirit of the play, the presence of a ref allows the players to push the envelope and test the ref on how much they can get away with before being disciplined.  The mindset that IF a player’s behaviour is unacceptable, the ref will call them on it, and if the ref doesn’t see it… tough luck- IS EXACTLY THE MINDSET WE DON’T WANT to perpetuate in Urban Rec play.

So, what happens when a player doesn’t understand the rules or the intended spirit of play?  Believe it or not we’ve thought of that, and have a series of backstops in place to handle it:

Step one is for their teammates (in particular their own Team Captain) to inform an offending player of the rules and remind them of the intended spirit of play. If a player observes behaviour from a teammate that they know is outside the rules or intended spirit of play, they are to make the calls on their teammates accordingly.

Step two is for the Team Captain of the opposing team to remind (in a sportsmanlike manner) the Team Captain of the team they deem are playing outside the rules or intended spirit of play that we are all here for fun and that we have an accountability to each other to play within the rules and intended spirit of play.  

What if steps 1 & 2 don’t work? 

This is where our amazing Event Co-ordinator (EC) staff comes in. While EC’s are not meant to ref the game call-by-call / moment-by-moment, they are intended to be observing the general demeanor of the game and be proactively reminding team captains or individual players as needed that they are responsible for their actions and playing within the rules and spirit of Urban Rec play. If the EC has concerns that are not being addressed in terms of the demeanour of play or the actions they have observed from a team/individual they are empowered to force a break in the action and deal with the issues that they see by removing the players who they deem to have been playing outside the rules or intended spirit of play from the game for as long as they see fit.

Finally, Urban Rec takes discipline very seriously and where players/teams have exhibited a pattern of behaviour that indicate they are unwilling or unable to behave within the bounds of the rules and intended spirit of play, they will simply be removed from play for a portion of the season, or perhaps indefinitely. In the end, it is a privilege, not a right, to play in an Urban Rec league. The privilege to participate with Urban Rec is primarily dictated by the willingness to behave within the rules and intended spirit of play. If a player needs a Ref to be able to behave appropriately, they are going to need to play somewhere else. That’s ok with us, and we suspect with you as well, because …who wants to play with someone that can’t play nicely without a Ref around anyways???

Please note: Urban Recreation has changed our policy of giving teams point penalties for not fielding a complete roster. Previously the point penalty only applied when teams did not have enough women on the court.  In collaboration with our participants, we determined this gender based policy could be interpreted to imply women were a liability on the court. It could be perceived that the team with fewer women was being penalized to level the competitive balance for the team with more women.  This was never our intention as an organization. Our intention was, and will always be, to build and perpetuate an inclusive co-ed culture that so values the participation of women that teams will be penalized for not bringing out enough women to play.  To eliminate the potential perception for any other rationale for this point penalty, we have changed the wording of the policy to be gender neutral. We have retained the point penalty for bringing an incomplete team but removed the possibility that the rule could be perceived as an issue of competitive balance based on gender.   We thank you for your attention to this rule change and its consistent application in the appropriate context going forward.

If games are cancelled (sometimes due to weather- i.e. snow on the fields- or other things that are out of our control), Urban Rec will do its best to reschedule those games at a future date using facilities/locations and gametimes as close to the original times as possible in order to finish the league by the original end date.  This may mean teams will need to play doubleheaders to make up these games.  In some cases, the end date of the league may be extended to accommodate the makeup games, but this is not always possible. If games are not able to be made up, then teams will be compensated for any missed games.

Unfortunately we do not have enough available court space to be able to offer anything other than coed 6's volleyball in our indoor leagues.

Absolutely! We offer individual registration for all of our sports, both indoor and outdoor. All you have to do is wait for the registration period to open, go to www.urbanrec.ca and you will be able to select the sport, night, skill level, and location in which you want to play.

You can even join up with a small group of friends. Just make sure you each select the same team name when registering (each individual's' team has a unique name). To find out more information about individual registration, please click on Individual Player/Team FAQ’s in the list on the left!

Our indoor leagues play in schools and community centers throughout Vancouver, Richmond, and Burnaby. Additional facilities are located at UBC and the Marpole Curling club, as well as the Richmond Oval and the Fortius Sport and Health Centre in Burnaby.  Our outdoor leagues play on fields at UBC, Burnaby West, Surrey and all over Vancouver. Note that leagues may not be offered in all locations each season.

All of our spring/summer leagues will play on the Monday nights of long weekends. We do not play on Sundays of long weekends. Train & Play sessions will not occur on the Fridays of long weekends.

Generally, our fall/winter leagues will not play on the Sundays of long weekends while some leagues will play on holiday Mondays (each league has different scheduling parameters depending on the location. Please inquire to the specific league).  Note that games may be scheduled sometimes on holiday Sundays due to extenuating circumstances.

Urban Rec's withdrawal policy is a simple one: we only offer refunds if we are able to resell your team/individual spot to another team as there is limited space for all of our leagues/teams, and if you have registered for a spot, this prevents someone else from registering for it.

There is an administrative charge applied to spots that are able to be re-sold of 10% of the total fee paid or $50- whichever is greater. If we cannot re-sell your spot then no refund will be offered.

In the event that your spot can be re-sold prior to the league starting, the refund amount will be the full league price minus the admin fee. If the spot is re-sold after the league has started, the refund will be dependent on the pro-rated price that the spot is re-sold for, minus the admin fee.

Some leagues may have only one pool to start; for leagues with more than one pool, we will try our best to initially place your team in a pool suiting your team's skill level.

For leagues with more than one pool, we will observe your team's skill level relative to the other teams in the league over the course of the season and reseed teams where warranted.

For all of our leagues, there are periodic points where reseeding is done: Volleyball - generally after week 3 (and week 6 if league is longer than 8 weeks) Other leagues - generally after week 5

Please note that, if warranted, reseeding may be done at any point during the season at Urban Rec's discretion, and the above timelines are general guidelines only.

Outdoor soccer and flag football are scheduled to play rain or shine, and will NOT be cancelled due to rain.

In the event that weather conditions make the playing fields unplayable (this is determined at the discretion of the facilities that rent out the fields), Urban Rec will contact the team captains to let them know of the cancellation. If the team captains have not heard from a UR staff member, the teams can assume they will be playing.

Any lost objects are stored at the facilities. If it is not an urgent matter, please wait until your next league night and ask the event coordinator about your lost item. If the item is of significant importance (such as a wallet, keys, or a driver's license), please contact [email protected].

The call of whether a league will play that night will be made at Urban Rec’s discretion- we do try our best to give as much notice as possible with the minimum being 2 hours prior to the games’ scheduled start time. We do visit location sites to help make this decision as well as consult with other league associations across the city. If play is cancelled, participants will be notified via e-mail (note- only participants who have been added to a roster for that league will be included on the e-mail message).

If you are worried about the weather, give our weather hotline a call at 604-878-RAIN (7246)- this line is generally updated at 4:30pm each day if there is questionable weather that day, but may be further updated as the evening progresses if leagues are cancelled after this time. You can also check your email- if games are cancelled, then we will send out notification that games are not being played that night. 

Championship winning teams will be awarded a set number of shirts (with an assortment of sizes) based on your league:

Basketball, Dodgeball, VSB Floor Hockey – 10 shirts (2S 3M 3L 2 XL)                                                            Indoor & Beach Volleyball coed 6’s – 6 shirts (2S 2M 2L)                                                                              Curling, Beach Volleyball coed 4’s – 4 shirts (1S 1M 2L)                                                                                       Soccer, Flag Football, Oval Floor Hockey, Multisport – 12 shirts (2S 4M 4L 2XL)                                                                                                                                                                                      Softball – 14 shirts (3S 4M 4L 3XL)

Winning teams can order extra championship shirts via our website at a cost of $10 per shirt.