Peebles and Perth take honours in netball finals

At Netball Scotland's Scottish Cup finals day at the Alistair McCoist Complex in East Kilbride, there were victories for Peebles in the under-13 age group and Perth in both the under-15 and under-17 age groups.

In the Borders, netball has not traditionally been played in secondary schools, despite large numbers playing it in primary schools, so in 2006 Linda Nicholson set up the Peebles Netball Club.

This was to allow the players from the likes of Peebles High School, Earlston High School and other secondary schools in the area the chance to continue playing. And over the last five years, the growth of the club has also seen more teams being set up in these individual schools by volunteers, with the standard of young netball players growing in the area as a result.

Having won the under-13 Scottish Cup last year, Peebles entered teams at under-13 and under-15 this season, with both performing well to reach the semi-final stage.

And whilst the under-15s lost their semi-final in Paisley, the under-13s came through, beating Edinburgh 29-7 before facing Hamilton in the final.

The squad that travelled to finals day brought together players from as far afield as Broughton to Earlston, who play in their respective school teams, but train together within the Peebles club.

They won 19-9, ending their season on a high as the only junior club in Scotland to have achieved championship wins within one season at Scottish Schools, Scottish Club and Scottish District level.

Nicholson said: "The girls played really well and I have been delighted with the way the club has continued to grow at all age-grades over the last few years.

"It is also good to see the amount of netball being taken into secondary schools by volunteers in the area now and, hopefully, this will continue to rise."

In a tense, nail-biting game that was 14-14 going into the last ten minutes with spectators on the edge of their seats, the under-15 Perth side defeated Paisley Juniors 20-18 after extra-time to secure the title.

The team was drawn from girls from Perth High School, Perth Academy and Perth Grammar and coach Sonia Johnson said: "It was end-to-end stuff with groans and cheers from the spectators - a real thriller. Needless to say there were some very emotional girls when we scored the second goal and the final whistle blew."

It was a more comfortable victory for the under-17 Perth side as they beat Hamilton 35-19 to retain the title they won last year.

The under-17s had also finished their group undefeated before knocking out St Andrews 49-11 at the semi-final stages.

The squad had players involved from Perth High School, Perth Academy, Perth Grammar, Breadalbane Academy, Kilgraston and Blairgowrie High School and coach Lorraine Calderwood commented: "This has been a great group of girls to work with and hopefully the ones who are moving from here into senior netball can go on to bigger and better things in the future."

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