The Estevan Sharks water polo club has been in the water since Oct. 1, getting ready for the start of the 2020-21 competitive season.
Now they need to know when that season will begin.
“With COVID, we’ve had to do a few different things. We’re starting now to put occasional contact into our practice drills. Before that, everything had to be distanced,” said president Heather Tober.
They have had to set up additional groups in practices, because the restrictions only allow for 12-15 kids on deck at once. With 52 swimmers, it’s been tough to schedule enough pool time for everybody in their four age groups: mini, atom, bantam and open. The latter is for those who are ages 15 and up.
The club hopes the rules will loosen up eventually, and they can get back to the customary 20 kids in the pool at a time.
“It’s all based on the size of our pool,” said Tober.
Still, their numbers are in good shape. The 52 kids are similar to previous years. And lots of parents have stepped forward to train to become coaches.
“We lost a couple kids for different reasons, but we gained a few that had taken last year off and came back,” said Tober. “And we probably have four new families, so we’re remaining steady, even though we didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Swimmers have been working on their conditioning and getting used to being back in the water, since most spent more than six months outside of the pool.
And they have been learning the rules again, and brining new kids up to speed.
Practice sessions are Sunday evenings from 5-8:30 p.m., and 6-9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre.
The club has not received an indication of when their competitive season will begin. Water Polo Saskatchewan is starting to open mini leagues with 50 participants in Regina.
Estevan and Weyburn would be in their own mini league.
Their first three tournaments of the year, slated for Regina and Weyburn, have been cancelled.
“It’s tricky to keep kids wanting to come if there might not be any games,” said Tober.
Kids can still register to play water polo. They have a wait list, due to restrictions on the number of kids allowed on the pool deck, but some kids who were on the wait list previously are now in the water.
There currently isn’t a deadline to register, because they don’t have a set roster.
