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WINNIPEG – Winnipeg General Strike’s fundraising video is a fun look at playing a summer sport in a winter city, but the team is serious about their world championship goals.

Winnipeg’s elite ultimate team took one of their disadvantages – a lack of snow-free playing space in winter – and used it to create a tongue-in-cheek fundraising video on a snow-covered Assiniboine Park field on March 9.

“The worst part of it was actually being in knee-deep snow,” said Yacine Bara, who wrote and directed the video, released on March 31 at midnight, with teammate Kevin Boreskie. “I went with a few guys and jumped in a hot tub (after).”

The team planned the 90-minute shoot before they knew what the weather would be like, but it ended up being one of a few warmer winter days, with the temperature reaching zero as they played.

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“It was well worth it,” said Bara, who provides the narration in the video. “Everyone had a great time out there.”

The Strike, which will join Winnipeg’s women’s and masters teams at the worlds, scored a late berth in the championships, which will be held in Italy in August.

Bara admits they aren’t going for gold, but they’re excited about their first opportunity at the world championships and hope to outperform at least one of the other three Canadian teams that will be there.

“We’ve never been to a tournament like this,” Bara said. “We’ve never played against European teams.”

You find the Winnipeg General Strike’s Make a Champ fundraising page here, “like” them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.