Cumbernauld trio in Scottish squad

Chloe McGarvey (14), from Abronhill, and Leigh Valentine (14), from Westerwood, have both been selected for the Scotland under-17s ‘long’ squad, while team mate Amy Craig (15), from Abronhill, has been chosen for the under-21s.

Chloe and Leigh will be representing their country for the first time but Amy is making the step up from the Under-17 side despite her young age.

Marianne Murray, coach of the junior section at the Tryst-based Cumbernauld club, is delighted for the girls.

She said: “I’m very proud of them and what they’ve achieved, they shouldn’t underestimate it. They’ve worked really hard and it’s a difficult process to be selected for the national team.

“The girls have all gone through from club netball to district netball to the national squad. That’s not easy to achieve.

“They’ve all built up to it and have been playing since they were at primary. I coached Amy and Chloe when they were at St Lucy’s in P5.

“All three of them are very dedicated and really keen to listen and willing to learn and develop aspects of their play.”

Marianne believes Amy’s achievement is of particular significance.

She continued: “She’s very young to be selected for the under-21 squad. I’m quite familiar with Netball Scotland. I know people there think a lot of Amy.

“She’s tiny compared to the players that normally play, but she makes up for that in lots of other ways – she’s a great tactician and uses her brain a lot.”

As well as being a fantastic confidence booster for the girls, Marianne says their selection is good news for netball in Cumbernauld.

“For a small club like us to have three players in a national squad is a great achievement,” she added. “We’ve obviously got the Commonwealth Games coming up in Glasgow in 2014. These girls have a great chance of being involved there.”

If you are interested in getting involved in the sport, the Cumbernauld Netball Club have squads for kids of primary seven age, all the way up to adult sides.

For more information, e-mail Marianne on [email protected].