East Kilbride 82 Handball Club celebrate their 50th anniversary this year – and the club are marking that milestone amid a Scottish Cup double.
Both the club’s under-14 boys and girls teams got their hands on silverware last weekend in Edinburgh, as they ran out winners in the final of their events at the Oriam National Sports Centre.
Wins against Kelvinside Academy and Tryst 77 from Cumbernauld, respectively, brought home the medals for the club.
Development coach Michael Lavery is delighted with the success of the two talented groups and he said: “I’m very proud of all the players.
“Our two goalkeepers Riley Archibald and James Black were exceptional on the day.
“After nearly two years without training it was an amazing performance to bring home both trophies.
“The pandemic was a major setback for all the sports clubs in East Kilbride and EK82 Handball club were no different.
“The club have worked extremely hard in the community to get everyone back involved and all the hard work has paid off with some success in our 50th anniversary year.”
Meanwhile, the EK82 senior men’s team finished runners up in the Scottish league and qualified for the British Supercup play-offs, which were also held at the Oriam and televised by the BBC.
Unfortunately for EK82, they lost to Manchester Hawks and Livingston in the final games to finish fourth overall.
But coach Stephen Neilson was proud of the efforts from his young squad.
He said: “This EK team have an average age of 21, so it was a brilliant learning experience for all of us.
“Players like Ewan Hunter (18) Aonghas Slevin(18) and Ryan Kealy (19) all have brilliant potential.
“We also had four 16 year olds in the squad along with some more experienced players the oldest being 25.
"If the team keep improving as fast as they did in the past year we will be up there challenging to be British champions in the next couple years.”
Visit the EK82 Handball club website to www.ek82handball.club for more details and how to join.
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