The Prairie Dolphins leapt to a trio of podium finishes on the provincial stage.
Dolphins athletes joined forces with other teams to claim medals at the U18 and U14 levels at the Water Polo Alberta Winter Provincials in Edmonton earlier this month.
“I think the success was huge for the athletes because for some of them, they’ve never experienced winning a medal before,” said Dolphins head coach Tyler Jones. “For them, all of the hard work paid off."
In the U14 boys ranks, the Dolphins athletes played with two Edmonton Riptides squads, the Riptides Blue and Riptides Teal who took home the gold and bronze medals, respectively.
“After the new year is when they’re split up onto the teams,” Jones added. “And they’ve quickly bonded through games and tournaments.
“They started to play really well with each other at the end of the year and I think we really saw that come through in this last tournament.”
The Riptides Blue team took out the previously undefeated Calgary Seawolves in the early morning provincial gold medal game.
“When everyone showed up, I could just feel the energy, everyone was awake, everyone was ready to go,” Jones said. “Even though we were playing against an undefeated team, we still had the confidence that we could go and beat them.”
In the U18 boys division, Oliver Hodgson from the Dolphins played with the Calgary Mako and made big contributions to its bronze medal finish.
“He played really well and scored two goals in the bronze medal game,” Jones said. “And they were the game winner as well so he was pretty excited about those.”
In the U12 girls ranks, three Dolphins players played with the Calgary Wild and earned a fifth-place finish.
As a smaller club, the Dolphins don’t get the chance to play full squad games in normal practice settings with tournaments offering that chance to play in a competitive setting.
“I talked to them at the beginning of the season, the middle of the season too, and said, ‘Listen guys, we’re going to work hard this season, we’re going to get better and we’re going to have fun and part of having fun is doing well in tournaments,’” Jones said.
“They believe me now and you should have seen the smiles on their faces when they got those medals, they were so happy and I’m super proud of them. It’s just boosting confidence for next season and making hard work worth it.”
The Dolphins will be opening registration for next season in August.
The club will also be offering day camps in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Diving Club out of the Seton YMCA in July.
For more information on the club, visit dolphinswaterpolo.ca.
