ESTEVAN - The Estevan Sharks water polo club competed at the spring provincials in Saskatoon on March 25 and 26.
This marked the last competition for the 2022-23 season.
“It was great to see the improvement from that first tournament to the last for our athletes,” the Sharks said in a news release. “We are so proud of all our athletes and how hard they have worked this year to improve their skills and endurance in the pool. Water polo is a tough sport and to these athletes, we congratulate you on a great season.”
For the mini athletes, who are under 10 years of age, the Sharks sent two teams to this tournament. There was a total of six teams for the minis to compete against.
The Sharks White team, which consisted of the older group of mini players, brought home a silver medal. The blue team played hard and strong during the weekend, the club said in the news release.
In the atom age group for athletes under 13 years of age, the atom boys were combined with players from the Saskatoon Pirates team to compete at the tournament. There were only two other atom boys’ teams at this tournament, so the teams played each other twice. The Estevan-Saskatoon team came home with a gold medal from this tournament.
Because of low numbers of female athletes, the atom and bantam-level girls’ teams were combined for this tournament. This team included athletes 10-14 years of age which made for a wide range of skills and abilities.
“Our athletes tried hard and came home with great memories from an awesome weekend,” the Sharks said.
The bantam boys are athletes under 15 years of age. For this tournament, they were combined with the Saskatoon Pirates in a four-team pool. There were some high-scoring, fast-paced games and they came home with bronze medals.
Keegan Mennie-Kindlein competed in open men’s, and Mahlyn Bomberak, Ryan Hoeving and Jennika Linthicum competed on Team Sask. in the open women’s division.
The Sharks wrapped up the season on March 30 with a supper, awards night and fun swim.
The program thanked mini coaches Alan Smelt, Kristy Jones, Irene Greening and Amanda Johnson for teaching the youngest athletes about the intricacies of the sport, with 23 athletes between ages five and 10.
“Your guidance and patience with these athletes was appreciated,” the Sharks said.
They also lauded Malcolm Sherling and Mahlyn Bomberak, the minis’ bantam-level volunteers who would help with practices and tournaments.
This age group also follows the seal pup program, teaching basic swimming skills, along with learning water polo skills and strategies similar to community swimming lessons.
There are three skill levels in the program:
Participate: Leo Cozman, Milana Dotsenko and Nicolai Mitchel;
Level 1: Raymond Johnson, Sawyer Klotz, Matvii Maidanski, Jackson Prefontaine, Gavin Tinant, Aksel Senholt, Simon Hall and Mavrick Martindale.
Level 3: Ayla Smelt, Jaxon Ward, Eli Sclear, Laine Petterson, Leighton Petterson, Eoin Jones, Willow Van Sickle, Jaxson Reinhardt, Grace Trepanier, Elijah Vanstone, Brynna Sherling and Rosalie Horrocks.
The atom level athletes were coached by Chad Knoll, Melissa Enns and Lucinda Milford. These athletes are working at honing their skills and how to work together as a team. The Sharks congratulate them for their development during the year and wish them great things in water polo.
The athletes and coaching staff voted on the following awards: Carter Yunick (top atom male athlete and atom MVP), Jennika Linthicum (top atom female athlete), Meredith Knoll and Hudson Enns (most sportsmanlike), and Sebastian Martens (most improved).
The bantam level athletes were coached by Neal Linthicum, Tristan Threinen, Logan Dalziel and Lily Knoll. This team challenged each other athletically throughout practices to enhance their skill level to develop stronger athletes, the club said.
“There were many smiles, laughs and stories swapped when they got together and their in-practice competitions were enhanced by their camaraderie.”
The coaching staff selected the following award winners: Mahlyn Bomberak (bantam MVP), Jennika Linthicum (top female athlete), Tyler Gillies (top male athlete), Ryan Hoeving (best defensive player), Malcom Sherling (most improved), and Marvin Blue and Keegan Mennie-Kindlein (most sportsmanlike).
