Spring has sprung and the Gibsons Rugby and Athletic Club is in full swing.
The women's soccer team ended their season in fine form at the year-end tournament on March 28, completing a very strong run they have been on since Christmas. Several of the women started the season with a trip to Australia for the World Masters, a competition they are planning to attend again in Turin, Italy in 2013. Momentum from the past league play will be carried into the annual expedition to Kelowna for tournament play on the May long weekend.
The men's soccer team has attracted some new talent to Coast soccer and is preparing for its year-end tournament this weekend at Shirley Macey Park. Spirit and determination have united this team under the club banner, resulting in strong numbers and camaraderie.
Pigs' hockey completed its second year of men's club hockey with a reputation for welcoming and supporting newcomers and superstars alike. Program manager Cory Crosby crafts the sessions to maximize player development and sportsmanlike competition. The overwhelming success and popularity of the program has started rumours of a women's group in the near future.
Rugby continues with open co-ed non-contact scrimmages on Thursday evenings. Several members travel each weekend to Vancouver to compete in divisional and over-40 league matches. The club's support of age-grade rugby continues with the beginning of high school competition this week.
On May 29, the club will host a day of exhibition challenge matches in Gibsons involving players from East Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast in junior, senior and "old boys" categories.
Aug. 14 will see the club carry on a tradition reaching back 20 years with the Bob Cowie Tight Swine Sevens, a tournament of international repute.
Having successfully hosted the charity hockey game, Polar Boar Plunge on Jan. 1 and Pigs' family skate over the winter, club members are preparing for a summer full of slo-pitch, seven-aside soccer and volunteering at community festivals. Having our home at Armours Beach has allowed us to expand our programs and ability to give back to the community.
We look forward to celebrating our 40th anniversary as a local sports club with a massive membership reunion in 2012.
For any club information, please contact us at [email protected].
