By Nathan Kanter

Space running out for the 4th annual Wiffle Weekend

May 1, 2018 | 12:00 PM

The Battlefords Branch of Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) already has more teams registered for this year’s ‘Wiffle Weekend’ than last year. But there’s still room for four more teams.

The annual fundraiser is taking place this weekend at Battleford Arena, with 10 teams already on board, two more than last year.

“One of the goals has always been to try to max out the number of available spots we have and we’re so close this year,” Renee Sperling said, program coordinator for BBBS. “We’re putting it out there to anybody that if they are still interested, we can fit them in.”

Last year’s event was a success, with a final fundraising tally of nearly $10,000. This year, the organization is almost at that total already, which is why their goal this time around is $15,000.

“We are getting very close already to $10,000 so we’re anticipating to break and shatter that $15,000 goal,” Sperling said. “All of the money that we do fundraise goes back into everything we do for programs… It makes for some really great memories and that’s sort of what we’re in the business of, is supporting the youth and making memories with them as well.”

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Sperling said the organization has already ear-marked some of the funds for their in-school mentoring program, plus to continue developing their office, among other areas of their programming.

The tournament begins play on Saturday, with the playoff round set for Sunday.

Providing entertainment for yet another year is Armed With Harmony, a music service from Saskatoon. Last year, instead of playing during the post-game social, they played during the actual tournament, which will happen again this time around.

“They provide sort of an in-game entertainment feature, which is always a lot of fun,” Sperling said. “It’s a little bit more exciting to be playing a game that’s really for fun… and doing it with some really great music and great DJs.”

Sperling also added they’ve made some hybrid rules for the way the games are played, making it a cross between traditional wiffle ball and slow-pitch.

For example, players still run the bases and if the ball bounces off different things in the arena, it remains in play.

“We’ve fine tuned all of our rules,” Sperling said. “We’re the only Big Brother Big Sister agency in Canada that actually runs a wiffle ball tournament so it’s a pretty unique one to the Battlefords.”

For those unsure about signing up, Sperling said many that sign up are new to the game.

“It only comes once a year,” she said. “There’s only one cure for the case of the wiffles and it’s wiffle weekend.”

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11