With plenty of splashing and passing, it was all fun and games for Collettville and Diamond Vale students on Thursday.
Students in Grades 4 to 6 from the elementary schools strapped on their caps and jumped in the water for the second of two sessions intended to introduce them to water polo.
The students did some dryland training in their school gyms and learned the game the day prior to jumping into the pool.
Come Thursday, the students geared up thanks to the Merritt Otters swim club, which received a $2,000 grant to purchase water polo equipment.
Purchasing the equipment was the first step in establishing a water polo program in Merritt, PacificSport Interior co-ordinator Josée Warren said.
Warren said the organization is looking into a coaching clinic in the summer and plans to start the local water polo program in the fall.
BC Water Polo director Gabor Toth made the trip from Surrey to Merritt to help put on the clinic.