University of Regina Women's Hockey Team Retreat: Teambuilding

The University of Regina Women's Hockey Team approached Great Excursions about an overnight trip which would take these top university athletes outside of their comfort zone. We proposed an aboriginal experience with one of our First Nations partners in the Qu'Appelle Valley that would involve transportation and sharing a meal of bison meat with our Cree hosts, and a smudging ceremony lead by a First Nations woman elder.

Team members were then shown to the teepees where they would spend the night. They were shown how start a fire and how to tend it each in turn through the night to stay warm. The rest of the evening was spent sharing aboriginal culture and meanings while gazing at the night sky through a high-powered lens.

In the morning, participants all had breakfast, after which the athletes were taken on an orienteering challenge developed specifially to foster their team spirit -- to invite players who might never have had the chance to rely on each other for certain skills, to change their perceptions and hone the collective spirit of the team.

At the end of the retreat, they had fond memories to share and ended at  the top of their league.