Cerys will shoot for her country Perth youth to play for Scotland at School Games
Perth netball prospect Cerys Cairns has been selected to represent Scotland at the School Games.
The sport is making its debut at the major multi-sport event for the most talented young athletes from across the UK, held in Loughborough.
Cerys (15), who attends Perth Academy, is one of 12 girls who will pull on the Scottish colours from August 30 to September 2.
The Scots will come up against eight Vitality Netball Superleague teams, London Pulse, Yorkshire and Netball Northern Ireland.
“I am incredibly proud of the achievement and Cerys’ dedication to working hard, not only on the court, but in the gym too,” said mum Nicola.
“She has to commit to travelling back and forth to Glasgow and Edinburgh for training and is joining a ladies’ club in Glasgow to help progress.
“The School Games will be huge for her. Looking at the information, this is set up like a mini Olympics.
“It’s a huge opportunity to go out there and prove yourself.
“I love going to watch her and seeing her teams doing well.
“It’s great to be able to understand what’s going on and know the rules.”
Cerys’ love for netball has continued to grow after initially being introduced to the sport at the age of 10.
She has since been involved in Perth and Kinross squads and was recently named in Netball Scotland’s under-17 long squad.
That will eventually be cut to 12 players with those selected moving on to represent Scotland at Netball Europe in 2019.
Nicola has watched Cerys improve on the court every
Cerys Cairns is in the Scottish squad for the UK Schools Games year and she told the Perthshire Community Campus, which was Advertiser: “Her aim is to be in the a week-long session with Airlie Scottish Thistles team eventually. Beveridge.
“But obviously there is a lot of “From there Airlie put her work to be done to get to there. forward for under-12 trials.
“The girls they go up against, “She had never played netball everyone is at that level so you need before that but enjoyed it. to stand out. “She went to the trials and was
“Cerys’ primary school didn’t selected for the squad. do netball so she went along to a “That progressed onto under-13, Live Active camp when she was in under-15 and under-17s in Perth primary six. and Kinross.
“It was held at the North Inch “Initially it was just a fun sport to go along and participate. Cerys dances too and dancing was her thing. Netball always took a back seat.
“But a couple of years ago, when she was selected for the development squad with Netball Scotland, that’s when things started to change.”
Cerys is on the lookout for sponsorship to help fuel her netball dream. If interested, email nicola_ cairns@yahoo.co.uk