The RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre was a busy place on Sunday as the Estevan Sharks Mini-Atom and Atom teams got their seasons underway in home water.

To start things off the Atom girls opened their tournament up with a win over Regina, but would then lose three start to go 1-3 on the day.

The Mini-Atoms entered two teams in the tournament and both finished with a record of 3 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie.

In the Atom boys division, the Hammerhead Sharks finished with a perfect record of 6-0, while the Tigersharks were also quite successful finishing 5-1. The Tigersharks only loss would come at the hands of their hometime rival Hammerheads.

The Cadet girls were also in action this weekend in Regina on Sunday and came away with 3 wins and one loss.

The next Atom tournament will be in Regina on November 5 for the Atom and Mini-Atom player and the Bantam players will see action on November 6 in Regina.

Members of the Estevan Atom Boys Sharks team in the pool on Sunday. (Photo submitted)

Story submitted by Melanie Dzeryk:

The Estevan Sharks Mini-Atom and Atom divisions kicked off their season this weekend with their first home tournaments of the season on Sunday October 29, while the Cadet Girls travelled to Regina for their season opener. “We are very excited to see our players back in the water and once again we are seeing a continuous growth of our club. Last year we had 51 player and this year we are up again with 63 players. We are very excited to see our club growing and excelling, and we attribute this being able to keep our fees low and our season fun and exciting. More and more local people are now talking about water polo as an exciting new sport to play and the reputation that the Sharks have created in our community has something to do with that.”

Sunday started out with the Atom Girls hitting the water. Game one against Regina started out with the girls looking nervous. The Atom Girls have a lot of new players this year and this was their first real game. Alianna Young broke the ice with a solid goal early on in the game, to then be helped out by Tayla Gervais scoring 3 goals, and Lily Knoll scoring 2 goals and Sadie Smith played an extremely strong defensive game. The girls finished this game with a win of 7-6 against Regina. Unfortunately the rest of the tournament did not continue in their favor and they ended up with 1 win and 3 losses.

The Mini Atom team were then next up on the schedule and there were two teams entered into the tournament , which consisted of players aged 5-8. The Sharks Blue started out with a 4-0 win over the Regina Armada’s with Hayden Baniulis and Ryden Summers scoring goals in the first half. They continued playing strong even though this is the first time playing as a team for all of these players and ended the tournament with 3 wins, 2 losses and a tie against their local competitors the Sharks White team. The Sharks White team also had a great day starting out with a 3-0 win against Regina Armada and they continued with 3 wins, 2 losses and a tie as well. Royce Milford had some great saves in the net and the mini’s overall did a great job of passing the ball and playing as a team.

The Atom Boys played on Sunday afternoon with two teams, the Tiger Sharks and the Hammerhead Sharks. Both teams definitely dominated the tournament with the Hammerhead Sharks leaving the tournament undefeated with 6 wins and 0 losses and the Tiger Sharks came away with only 1 loss against their hometown rivals the Hammerheads for 5 wins and 1 loss. The trio of Logan Dalziel, Noah Mvula and Kristian Baniulis on the Hammerheads were unstoppable as they moved the ball up the water and helped everyone played as a team. The Tiger Sharks had a few younger players that veterans like Lucas Dzeryk and Dierks Milford lead during the tournament and you could definitely see these older players helping set up plays so that the younger players could be involved in the game. “The point of this first tournament is to help our new players figure out the game and for our returning players to brush up on their skills and show leadership to our younger players. Our veteran players were definitely out there in the water helping guide her new teammate and that is what this tournament is all about.”, said Coach David Dzeryk.

In Regina the Cadet Girls played in a very fast paced tournament. They came away with 3 wins and 1 loss, which is a great feat considering the majority of this team is under-aged and playing up in their league.

The next Atom tournament will be in Regina on November 5 for the Atom and Mini-Atom player and the Bantam players will see action on November 6 in Regina.