An Estevan water polo product recently returned to Canada with a silver medal draped around her neck.
Auriel Bill was part of the Canadian contingent that represented the country at the Commonwealth Water Polo Championships in Scotland in April. As part of the 19-and-under team she helped Canada to a perfect round robin record before losing a tight match to England in the final game.
The Grade 12 student at Campbell Collegiate in Regina has been playing water polo for 11 years. She involved herself in the sport as part of a familial trend, with her older brother Brendon starting the sport and their father Brian coaching Estevan's young squads for years.
Bill played in Estevan, developing her game locally before moving to Regina at 15 to attend school in an atmosphere that would allow her to further herself in the sport.
She was most recently chosen to play on the 19-and-under junior national team to compete in the Commonwealth Championships in Scotland.
She was first selected as an alternate and wasn't originally slated to even attend the tournaments overseas. Two other players studying in Hawaii had to drop out of the tournament as they were writing finals, so Bill and another Saskatchewan player made their way to the U.K.
"It was kind of nerve-wracking, because you're wondering 'should I even be here?' Once we got there and we started playing, both of us did very well," said Bill. "It was different going from Team Sask. where I'm a leader on the team to being the guppy and being less experienced than everyone else. But I could learn from the other players, so it was good.
"There's definitely way more dedication. You need that if you want to play at that level," said Bill, who noted her coach, Cyril Dorgigne in Regina is very encouraging of the players to go further in the sport by playing for national teams.
"He was the inspiration for the whole team. He really motivated everybody to play and wanted us to go further in the sport, whether that's playing for national teams or going to the States for university. He's the brick wall behind everybody, that's for sure."
After the move to Campbell, Bill trained for a full year in Regina before she felt like she reached her potential. Playing for Team Sask., she went to Montreal to play at the Youth Cup. After that tournament, she was selected to play with the 16-and-under Team Canada at the USA Youth Cup in California.
"That was the first time we had ever heard of the national team," Bill said, noting that because it was a development year for the young Canadian team they didn't attend a tournament but scrimmaged at the American event.
"We got to play USA's first and second teams and a couple of community universities there. We got second in the mini tournament we had," she said, as they lost to USA 1 in the final.
That wasn't the last time they saw the top American team, as they met them in Argentina at the Pan-Am Games the following year. Again they lost, but Bill said the games were tighter as they won the silver medal.
Now playing in Aberdeen, Bill started feeling right at home, even among her older, more experienced teammates.
She said her teammates were very encouraging and supportive, and the coaches gave plenty of positive reinforcement along with some pointers and things to work on.
"I felt at ease when people were trying to help me when I was struggling. It's not that I was way less of a player, but these girls have more experience on national teams, so it was intimidating, but they're such a good group of girls, it didn't matter."
The teams' first practice as a group was in Scotland the day before their first game. Many of the national team's stalwarts were familiar with the others, but Bill and other players who were new to the team had to quickly figure out where they fit in.
She said the coaches picked players that everyone would know and encouraged everyone to play the way they would on their club teams.
"I'm a shooter, so I knew I couldn't be scared to shoot then. If that's my strong point, I can't just hide that," said Bill. "I tried to get used to everybody. We really clicked. It took a couple of games to get into, but it was better than we all expected."
The team went undefeated in the round robin, beating England, South Africa, Wales and the host Scots.
In the final, they lost to England 10-9, who they had previously defeated 9-8.
She said the tournament atmosphere was electric, even though water polo isn't the most popular sport in Scotland. The Scottish program is still developing, but they played in a brand new facility.
"We only had five fans, a couple of parents who came, and our first game was against Scotland, and the whole stands were filled with people. We beat Scotland by quite a lot, but if we scored and it was a really nice goal, the Scotland team and the fans would clap for us. Everyone was really respectful of us," she said, noting there aren't many rivalries that run deeper than that between the Scots and the Brits.
When it came time to face England in the final, the Scottish fans were firmly in Canada's corner.
"When we went to the gold-medal game, we had so many fans. There were locals, just from around the community, not knowing anybody in the sport, they were there just to watch. That was really cool."
For Bill, she will try out again for this national team during a selection camp on May 16 in Quebec City, in the hope of playing at the Pan-Am Junior Water Polo Championships in the U.S. this August.
Bill said as she graduates high school later this spring, she is looking forward to attending the University of Regina, and may look into heading to an NCAA program in the U.S. later. For now, as a teen who has lived away from home for the last few years, she isn't quite ready to move further away from her family.
