Under-12 at Inverclyde
The Lothian U-12 team competed at the Anglo-Scottish Team event at the recently re-developed National Sports Centre at Inverclyde, Largs, over the weekend of 28-29 May 2017. Teams from both England and Scotland competed over the 2 days – Borders, Cumbria, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Lothian, Northumberland, West of Scotland and Yorkshire.
The Lothian team demonstrated real strength and depth throughout the event, coming out top in all matches, to successfully defend the winning shield. Many congratulations to all the squads participating, with excellent competitive games and behaviour witnessed throughout the weekend.
Many thanks to Robert and Margaret Gaw and Sandra Downie for organising the event, the team leaders for bringing the teams, and to the staff at Inverclyde for providing such a great venue for the event, with wonderful accommodation and catering.
The winning team shown in the photograph (listed from left to right) are;
Back Row: Ross Macartney, Finlay Jack, Theo Johnston, Ben Riddle and Harry Bent
Front Row: Katie Taylor, Ishbel McCallister, Vibha Raman, Ellen Maclean and Hannah Carlyle.
Isle of Man Invitation Tournament
A Lothian U-13 select team travelled over the weekend of the 12-15 May to compete in the annual Isle of Man invitation tournament with the hosts and Yorkshire. A late change in the schedule had resulted in some event clashes, resulting in Lothian travelling with a smaller team of 4 boys and 2 girls. We travelled by train changing at Lancaster for a bit of frisbee – before heading on to Heysham and the connecting ferry. Luckily the gods were with us this year on both crossings, and we all arrived fairly fresh to be greeted by our hosts. All the players stayed in Douglas, so not too much travelling to the venue on both the Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday saw an individual singles competition, with all our players playing very positively. All the boys qualified out of their pools, with Daniel and Theo reaching the semi-finals and Finlay making the final, before losing to the top Yorkshire boy. Charlotte had some tremendous results, reaching the girls’ final, and putting up a really good fight against the top Yorkshire girl.
The team competition was held on Sunday – and we “borrowed” 2 girls from the IOM to make up a full team of 4 boys and 4 girls. Both Lothian and Yorkshire achieved wins over IOM 1 and IOM2, leaving a final shoot out in the last match. Although 3-0 down due to the non- counting girls’ games, Lothian pulled off some super results to win 4 of the 7 counting rubbers. Two great boys’ doubles wins for Daniel/Fin and Ellis/Theo in 3 ends – with some superb attacking play by both sides. Some great mixed play in evidence too from Charlotte and Ellen, which we have been working on in training. An overall 6-4 win for Yorkshire and congratulations to them for retaining the trophy.
A huge thanks to Roberta and Phil from the IOM committee for organising a wonderful event and trip for the players. Many thanks to our kind hosts, who took care of us so well. Loads of laughs and fun along the way, and lifelong friends made by all the players!
