The off-season in football is when your overall systems are developed and confirmed. During the pre-season is when you install the new offensive or defensive system and practise it throughout training camp.

The players understand it and the coaches believe in it. The plan is clear.

Then the first game happens. As the saying goes, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

Suddenly, your systems don’t work. On offence, drives stall because timing is off and execution is uneven. On defence, missed assignments lead to big gains. By halftime, the scoreboard is not kind.

Vacation home prices are expected to rise this year, according to Royal LePage.

The real estate company released its annual Spring Recreational Property Report on Thursday. The report forecasts the median price of a single-family home in Manitoba’s recreational regions will increase 5.5 per cent year over year in 2026 — 1.5 per cent more than the national average.

The weighted median price of a single-family home in Manitoba increased 4.6 per cent year over year in 2025 to $281,400, according to the report. Meanwhile, the median weighted median price of a single-family, waterfront property increased 5.7 per cent year over year to $477,400 during the same period.

“Several years have now passed since the gold-rush (COVID-19) pandemic era that saw recreational property prices rise at a record pace,” Phil Soper, Royal LePage’s chief executive, said in a news release.