The four questions families ask first

How many are selected. The top six players in every group are selected to represent Manitoba at a national 3v3 tournament run by 3v3 Canada, plus a first reserve, regardless of how many players are in that group. Participation does not guarantee selection, and most players who register will not be selected.

What selection costs your family. 3v3 Manitoba covers the national tournament registration cost, and squad kit is sponsored. Your family covers all travel: flights or driving, accommodation, meals, and ground transport at the other end. That total is considerably larger than the entry fee. Price it for your own family before you register.

Where and when nationals is. The national 3v3 tournament is in the greater Toronto area on December 4, 2026.

Which day your player is on. Saturday September 26 is birth years 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. Sunday September 27 is birth years 2015, 2014, and 2013. Boys and girls play on both days. Your family holds one day, not the weekend.

What your player does on the day

Arrival. Come 30 minutes before your block. You check in together, your player collects a numbered bib, and they warm up.

The block. A block runs 60 minutes and holds six games of 8 minutes with a 2 minute changeover between them.

The games. Your player plays three of those six, about 24 minutes of soccer. A Game Manager runs every game.

The shuffle. Three players a side, no goalkeeper, and the trios are reshuffled every game. Your player gets different teammates and different opponents each time.

Sometimes a fourth game. After a late withdrawal a few players pick up an extra game. Nobody plays fewer than three.

Which day is my player on?

Birth years 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016 play Saturday September 26, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Birth years 2015, 2014, and 2013 play Sunday September 27, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Boys and girls play on both days. You hold one day, not the weekend, and you are on site about 90 minutes of it.

Your exact block start time inside your day's 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. window comes in the email we send before the event. That is the only detail that follows later. Block order moves until registration closes, which is why the time is not on this page.

Weather, and what to bring

This is an outdoor event on a hard court surface, in Winnipeg, in late September. Plan for cold, wind, and the chance of rain, and dress your player and yourselves for standing outside.

Shin guards are required. Please make sure your player has them, because a player cannot take the pitch without them.

What to wear and bring. The same list the pre-event email sends you, so there is only one to pack from.

• •A full water bottle, and a spare.
• •Shin guards.
• •Runners or flat-soled shoes, like futsal shoes, rather than studs.
• •Warm layers that come off.
• •A rain jacket.
• •Something warm for the adults who are watching.

What stops play. Any one of four conditions: sustained winds of 40 kph or more, any lightning or thunder, heavy rain or hail, and standing water on the court.

Lightning and thunder, the 30-30 rule. If thunder follows a flash of lightning within 30 seconds, play stops. It does not restart until 30 minutes have passed since the last lightning or thunder.

Who makes the call. John Barbosa makes that call personally, and nobody else makes it.

How your family hears. By email, and on 3v3 Manitoba's social media accounts. Any parent already on site is told in person by John Barbosa.

Will my player actually get their games?

Yes. Three games is the promise, and it holds at every group size we can run.

A group runs with six players or more. The hard floor is six, because a 3v3 game needs six players on the pitch, and below that there is no game to play.

Twelve players in a group is the size this format is built around, not a requirement. If a birth year comes in under twelve, we accept that a teammate pairing or two will repeat and we run the group anyway. We would rather your player play than send your family home.

Here is exactly what each group size means for you. The number is the players approved in your player's own birth year and gender group.

Nothing else changes at a smaller size. The criteria, the scoring, the written assessment, and the Game Manager on the pitch are the same.

What the coaches are looking for

Every player is scored 1 to 10 on five criteria in every game they play.

What stops everyone landing on sixes and sevens is that 3, 6, and 9 are written down in advance. This is the exact wording a coach sees as they score, published here before registration opens, so you can read the standard your player is measured against before you spend anything.

Scores between the anchors are normal. The wording shows only at an exact 3, 6, or 9, so a coach is never nudged toward an anchor they did not mean.

The anchors are the scale, not a forecast. Coaches are told that six is a solid game and that most players land between 5 and 7, and that is where most reports sit. A number is written because a coach saw it, and the note beside it says in plain words what they saw.

What the report actually looks like

You should be able to picture the document before you pay for it.

Your player's report carries the five criteria above, each scored 1 to 10, from three games, by both development coaches. That is six scores per criterion and 30 numbers in total, alongside the written notes the coaches made after each game.

The notes are the part families read twice. They are what a coach saw your player do, in plain words.

A report is a record of three short games on one day. It is a record, not a verdict.

Read a sample report, made up start to finish, with the profile chart your family gets.

How your player is scored

Two development coaches watch the whole block and both score every player in every game they appear in, so three games produce six independent observations plus a written note.

The bib number is the primary handle a coach works with. To be accurate, the console does also show names beside bib numbers, because two players in a group can share a short name and a coach needs to match a bib to a face. We will not claim coaches never see names.

Coaches watch and write. They do not officiate, and nothing on the pitch is theirs to settle. That is the Game Manager's call.

What we tell every development coach before they score your player

These five rules are the briefing every coach gets before a single game. Here they are word for word, with what each one protects for your player.

1. 1Score the player, not the result. A 9 on a losing team is common and correct. Three children lose every game here, and it is almost never all three of their fault.Your player is not marked down for the trio they were handed.
2. 2Six is a solid game. Most children land between 5 and 7. If everybody is a 9 the numbers stop telling us anything, and the children who really did stand out lose the credit.A 6 on your player's report is a solid game, not a poor one.
3. 3Score the game, not the child. You are marking these eight minutes. A quiet game after a good one is normal at this age, which is why every child plays three.One flat game does not define your player. That is what the other games are for.
4. 4Score before the next game starts. Memory for this fades inside minutes, and you have six games in an hour.Your player's scores are written while the game is fresh, not reconstructed at the end of the day.
5. 5Write the note. The number decides the ranking. The note is what the family actually reads, and it is the only part that helps a child who is not selected. One sentence is plenty.Your family gets words, not only numbers.

Who is watching your player

Every development coach working this event has already cleared all three of these checks, each one completed within the last three years:

• •A Criminal Record Check
• •A Vulnerable Sector Check
• •A Manitoba Child Abuse Registry check

Not pending, not in progress. Cleared, before a coach works with a single player, under the 3v3 Manitoba Child Protection and Abuse Prevention Policy.

The adults who assess your player are development coaches. The word is the job: they watch players and write down what they saw, and every family gets that back. They are not judges, and 3v3 Manitoba does not use that word.

Two development coaches per group. One pair takes a whole block, so every player in the group is seen by the same two people and nobody is compared to a score written by a coach who never watched them. Pairs alternate blocks, so your player is never scored by a coach in their seventh straight hour.

No development coach assesses a group containing a player from a club they coach at. If a group draws one, that coach moves to another block or the pair is changed, before the group plays. The rule is fixed here in advance, not decided on the day.

Names come on the day. Each group's two coaches are named at the event, so you know who assessed your player. What we publish in advance is the part you can hold us to: how many coaches watch, which checks every one of them has cleared, the conflict rule, and the five rules above.

How the six are picked

Every player in a group ends up with one overall number, and that number sorts the group. Here is how it is produced, without any algebra on your part.

First, one average per criterion. Take every score your player was given for on the ball, across all of their games and from both coaches, and average those scores. Do the same for decision making, off the ball, defending, and attitude. That leaves five numbers, one per criterion.

Then, one number overall. Average those five numbers together, with the five criteria weighted equally. No criterion counts for more than any other. That is your player's overall number.

The group is sorted from the highest overall number to the lowest. Six players are selected from each group, and the player seventh on that sorted list is the first reserve. In a group of exactly six, all six are selected and there is no reserve from that group.

Six is six in every group, regardless of how many players are in it. It is not a percentage of the group, and it does not move with the number of families who register.

Ranking happens only inside your player's own group. The same two coaches saw every player in the group, three games each, so nobody is compared against a score written by a coach who never watched them.

Published tie break, in order: decision making, then on the ball, then a conference between the two coaches on those two players alone. Fixed here in advance, not decided on the day in front of a parent.

What are my player's real chances?

You are entitled to the arithmetic before you pay, not after.

Because six players are selected from every group no matter how many players are in it, your player's chance of selection depends on how many families register in their own birth year and gender group. In a full group of twelve, six of the twelve are selected. In a group of eight, six of the eight are selected. In a group of exactly six, all six are selected and there is no reserve from that group.

We are not offering that as a way in, and it is not something a family can play. You cannot see the numbers in another group before you register, we do not publish group counts, and we will not move a player into a thinner group on request. Group sizes are whatever registration gives us, and a birth year that looks thin in September can fill in a week.

What does not change with the number is the standard. The same five criteria, the same anchor wording, the same two development coaches, the same three games, and the same written individual assessment, in a group of six and in a group of twelve. A player selected out of a small group is selected on the same scores as a player selected out of a full one, and they travel to the same tournament against the same teams. Participation does not guarantee selection.

What your family gets, and who else sees it

Every player receives a written individual assessment by email, selected or not, carrying their five criteria scores and the coaches' notes. Families are buying an assessment, with selection as the upside.

Your player's scores go to that player's own parent or guardian, and to your player. Nothing is published publicly, in any form. No public page, no leaderboard, no group list, no posted ranking, and no summary of how a group scored.

A published group beside a published squad would name the players who were not selected by subtraction, and 3v3 Manitoba will not do that.

Selected families have three weeks to accept. Each reserve called up after that has 72 hours.

What it costs, and what the fee covers

Card and platform fees are added at checkout.

Your fee covers three assessed 3v3 games run by a Game Manager, scoring by two development coaches in every game, and a written individual assessment emailed to your family.

How do I get a place?

Some players are invited directly. Every other place is open to public registration.

Every public registration goes through a manual approval check on birth year, gender group, and whether the group still has room.

Registering is not the same as holding a place. You have a place when the approval email confirms your group, your day, and your start time.

Twelve is the cap for a group. Once a group is full, later registrations are held and become a place only if an approved family releases one. If no place opens, you are refunded in full, and we come to you rather than leave you wondering.

If a birth year and gender division draws more than 18 registrations, 3v3 Manitoba will consider opening a second group for that same division. That is a consideration, not a promise, and no family should register on the strength of it.

You pay when you register, and approval follows. An approved player who never pays holds a place another family wanted, so payment comes first. If your player is not approved, your payment is refunded in full and we keep nothing.

If your player is selected, here is what it commits you to

Read this part before you pay.

The national 3v3 tournament is in the greater Toronto area on December 4, 2026. A selected player joins a Manitoba squad traveling there.

3v3 Manitoba covers the tournament registration cost for selected players, and squad kit is sponsored, so neither is a cost to your family. Families are responsible for all travel costs. That means flights or driving, accommodation, meals, and ground transport at the other end. None of it is included in your entry fee, and the total is considerably larger than the entry fee. We are not quoting you a figure, because airfare and accommodation for that weekend are not ours to promise. Price the trip for your own family before you register, so that a place your player earns is a place you can take.

3v3 Manitoba is seeking travel bursaries from local credit union community investment programs. No bursary is confirmed, and no family should plan on receiving one. If we secure funding, we will publish how to apply here.

If your family cannot travel, you decline, the first reserve is called up, there is no penalty of any kind, and your player keeps their assessment. Participation does not guarantee selection.

Who is with your player in Toronto. 3v3 Manitoba strongly recommends that a parent or guardian travel with a selected player.

John Barbosa will be in Toronto, on site for the tournament, and any family there can come to him with anything at all.

Coaching on the day. One or two parent volunteers will be asked to act as coaches during the tournament, managing substitutions for the squad.

Can I get my money back?

If your player is not approved, you are refunded in full.

If your player's group cannot run, meaning fewer than six players in that birth year and gender group, you choose the adjacent birth year group or a full refund.

If something comes up and you need to pull out, tell us at least 24 hours before the event with a reasonable reason and we refund you. John Barbosa decides personally whether a reason is reasonable.

How a refund actually reaches you. A refund issued shortly after the original charge is often processed as a reversal. The original charge simply disappears from your card statement and no separate credit line ever appears, so there is nothing to watch for. Otherwise the refund shows up as a credit approximately 5 to 10 business days later, depending on your bank. Both outcomes are normal. If you are waiting on a credit that has not arrived, check first whether the original charge is still on your statement at all, because a reversal means it will not be.

Refunds go back to the original payment method only. That is a rule of Stripe, the payment processor, not a choice of ours. A refund cannot be sent to a different card, to another person's card, by e-transfer, or in cash.

What if you think we got it wrong?

If you believe the process on this page was not followed for your player, you can appeal.

Email contact@3v3manitoba.ca within two days of your assessment email. John Barbosa reviews appeals personally and gives you the outcome in writing.

An appeal checks whether the published process was followed. It is not a re-scoring of games already played, and a coach's judgment on a game is not reversed on request.

Will there be photos of my player?

Possibly, and the choice is yours. Photo and video consent is collected for every participant at registration. It is optional, and it does not affect participation in any way.

Here is the promise. No photograph or video of your player is published anywhere unless your family consented to it. Not on our website, not on social media, not in sponsor materials, and not in press.

Before anything from this event goes out, every frame is checked player by player against the registration record. If anything recorded on the day disagrees with that record, the record wins.

If you did not consent, nothing changes about your player's day. They play the same games, they are scored by the same two coaches, and they receive the same written assessment.

Straight talk before you register

Where we stand with Canada Soccer. We align with the 2026 Canada Soccer Grassroots Standards. We are not Canada Soccer sanctioned, authorized, or endorsed.

3v3 Manitoba is the licensed 3v3 Canada and 3v3 World operator for Greater Winnipeg, and the only one in the province.