In addition to regular league play, every season has a series of cup competitions.  The main ones that concern most teams are Provincial Cup and District Cup, but there are also other "cup" titles such as Island Cup and Coastal Cup that involve different routes to qualify.  We get a lot of questions from parents and coaches about how cup play works, so here are some short explanations:

Provincial "A" Cup

This is a BC championship for "metro" teams from the lower mainland, Vancouver Island, and the BC interior.  Bays United does not have a "metro" team, but greater Victoria does through Lower Island Soccer Association (LISA), made up of the best players from our greater Victoria soccer clubs.  Some Bays players join the LISA metro team each year.  Past Bays talents to go to metro include Adam Straith, Joey Loreth, and Sarah Rhodes (and many many more).

Provincial "B" Cup

This is a BC championship for Gold level teams in U14-U18.  To get to the Provincial B Cup Finals tournament in July, your Gold team has to win the B Cup "playdowns" for your district (in this case, Bays belongs to LISA district).  The playdowns are a series of single-knockout games with the other Gold teams in your division, starting in late January usually.  If you win the playdowns within LISA, you still have to win one more game to be named Vancouver Island B Cup representative for the BC Provincials tournament -- you have to beat the B Cup playdown champion from the north island district (e.g. Campbell River, Courtenay/Comox, Oceanside, or Nanaimo usually).  If you are knocked out of B Cup during your LISA district playdowns, you parachute into District Cup (see below).

District Cup

This is a District Championship between all league teams that play in LISA (i.e. Bays United, Gorge, Lakehill, Gordon Head, etc.). There are separate District Cups for Gold, Silver and Bronze divisions in U13-U18. Similar to Provincial Cup above, you begin cup playdowns in February in a single-knockout format for your division. The last 2 teams play in the District Cup final for their division at a big weekend tournament for all divisions, usually on the first weekend of April at a host soccer club in greater Victoria.  Note: Silver league champions play in Gold district cup, and Bronze league champions play in Silver district cup. 

Island Cup

This is not a "real" cup competition in the sense of having playdowns and single knockout. Island Cup is simply one championship game for "bragging rights" to the name of Island Champion, played between the Gold division champion of LISA and the Gold division champion of the north island district.  Other than the title, winning the Island Cup does not award you entry into any further provincial or national competitions.  This game is usually played in late April/early May.

Coastal Cup

This is a quasi-cup competition.  The lower mainland Gold teams around Vancouver use this as their qualifying tournament for Provincial B Cup (see above).  The B Cup playdown winners of the various Vancouver-area districts playoff against each other, and they invite the Island B Cup representative to play as well.  Win or lose, the Island B Cup representative still goes to the Provincial B Cup tournament in July, but the Coastal Cup may provide a sneak preview of some of the teams that could be faced there.