Ben Lypka
Mission Record
He just might be the farthest travelling athlete at the Abbotsford 2016 BC Summer Games, but England-born Rhys Squires will be representing the Fraser Valley and Mission at the Games.
Squires is the lone Mission resident on the team, which is made up of the top soccer players from Abbotsford, Langley, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Cultus Lake and Chilliwack.
For the past several weeks, Squires and the Fraser Valley team have been building chemistry on the Matsqui Recreation Centre (MRC) fields in Abbotsford every Monday and Thursday evening. He said it’s been a step up and much more of an organized set-up than what he’s used to.
“It’s more professional than my club team in Port Moody and there’s just a lot more quality in the training,” he said, noting that he’s also represented the Fraser Valley with the club’s metro team. “It really meant a lot to me to be named to the team and I was so happy when I found out I made it.”
Squires began playing soccer, or football as it’s called in his native England, at the age of five. He said everyone plays the sport in England, and his hometown of Kent is no exception. Squires quickly fell in love with the sport and took that passion over to Canada when his family moved here.
“I like the pace of the game and just that feeling you get when you win,” he said.
The defender is entering Grade 10 at Mission Secondary School in the fall, and said he predicts a solid tournament for the Fraser Valley club.
“I think we’ll do pretty well,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of talent and I think we will do good at home.”
The Fraser Valley team battles the Kootenays, Thompson-Okanagan, Fraser River, Vancouver-Coastal, Vancouver Island-Central Coast, North West and Cariboo-North East.
The boys’ soccer competition kicks off at 8:15 a.m. on July 22, with medals being handed out at 11:15 a.m. on July 24. All games take place at the MRC Sports Complex in Abbotsford.
Visit missioncityrecord.com or the abbynews.com for ongoing coverage of everything associated with the Games.
