SGU Takes Pre-Season Retreat

The Surrey-Guildford United U-14 Metro 'B' team at their pre-season retreat. The team travelled to the Teal-Jones Group logging camp at the north end of Pitt Lake. In the above photo the boys are standing in the Upper Pitt River which is fed by glacial water run off.

The Surrey-Guildford United U-14 Metro 'B' team were extremely fortunate to get the opportunity to do some rather unique pre-season team bonding in the wilderness. For many of the boys, it was the chance of a lifetime as they had never been camping in their lives.

The team travelled, by boat, to the north end of Pitt Lake where they stayed in the Teal-Jones Group logging camp which was sitting idle as the loggers were not due back in camp until mid-september. The camp was graciously opened up to the team by the logging company, who are also based in Surrey.

On Friday evening, shortly after arriving, the boys travelled a short distance out of camp to a local lake where they experienced swimming in a wilderness lake that lacked all the amenities of regular park (ie. dock, picnic tables, washrooms etc.). The boys were able to dive in off the fallen tree and enjoyed being able to make as much noise and cause as much ruckus as they liked without disturbing anyone.

On Saturday morning the team headed up the Pitt River and got to see hundreds of Sockeye salmon that were spawning the the river. Futher up the river the team got a first hand look at why we call our province "Beautiful British Columbia"...

Tucked into the rock walls of the Upper Pitt River are natural hot springs just a short hike from the road. Even for an experienced outdoorsmen, these hot spring were a sight to behold.

The two pools of the spring were right on the edge river. Most of the boys had never seen anything like it in their lives. The team spent a couple of hours relaxing in the pools, enjoying their surroundings and soaking up the warmth of the natural hot water coming out of a crack in the wall of rock. In the afternoon the team spent their last hours away floating down the river near camp. The boys were not deterred by the frigidly cold water as they enthusiastically jumped in, however, no one lasted more than thirty seconds in the glacial water before crawling up on shore to warm up.

It was only a short trip but the team had an outstanding experience and a great opportunity to bond. Surrey-Guildford United can't offer enough thanks to Karl Rulofs and the Teal Jones Group for their generosity.

SGU will wrap up their pre-season by playing in the Coquitlam Metro Ford Labour Day Tournament next weekend. Their regular season begins on September 12th.