Handy work from Cumbernauld youngsters wins Scottish titles

Our Lady’s High won both the S1-S3 and S4-S6 categories at the Scottish Handball Association Secondary School National Championships.

The event, held at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell, was the first in a series of age group championships to be staged over the coming months.

Our Lady’s were the only North Lanarkshire School to qualify for the finals and faced teams from, amongst others, South Lanarkshire, Ayr, West Lothian, Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and Kilmarnock.

As a result of the partnership between the school and local club Tryst ’77, both the Our Lady’s High contained a number of players from Tryst’s under-16 girls’ squad.

The school and the club have worked hard to develop handball in the area and their efforts paid off when both girls teams came through their group matches undefeated and made their respective finals.

First up were the S4-S6 team who faced Glasgow’s Kelvinside Academy in the final.

In the tournament format, game time is shortened and so teams are aware that they need to get off to a good start as there is no time to ease themselves in.

Both teams were understandably a little nervous but they produced an end-to end match with Our Lady’s holding out to win by a single goal.

In the S1-S3 final Our Lady’s were up against Deans Community High School from Livingston and it was another superb final with some good, young, talented players on display.

The Cumbernauld side gained the upper hand through hard working and excellent defence which gave them opportunities for fast breaks.

It wasn’t as close as the previous final but was nonetheless great to watch and Our Lady’s High School were delighted to secure their second trophy of the day.

The boys’ championship will be held later in the year.