This week on the 16th of February 2017 two Claddagh teams went to the Knocknacarra Community Centre to represent our school in an inter-schools’ U12 mixed Olympic handball tournament. We were giddy and excited as the selected teams travelled from the school in John Cotters’ bus.
Our two teams were called Claddagh Orange Team and Claddagh Green Team. Each team was made up of three girls and three boys but our squads were much bigger with many players from 5th and 6th classes. Matches only lasted 6 minutes with no half-time breaks, so a fast start was very important in all games. The groups contained some tough opposition with Cregmore NS, Garden Field NS, Knocknacarra NS and the Attymon School who had a long journey to travel to the venue.
Our Orange Team were up first and drew three matches straight. The Green Team had better luck and won all their matches except for the last one against Garden Field. In fact Garden Field were the strongest team in the whole tournament. Only one team from each group advanced to the play off. We were nervous but channelled this energy into concentrating at all times on the handball court as Mr. Geraghty had told us.