Trio take their place in England korfball squads for Belgium tournament
Youngsters feature for England at korfball tournament in Belgium.
Three junior athletes from the England Korfball North West U15 Academy pathway were on national service after recently representing England.
The Academy, run by Lancaster Phoenix Korfball Club, saw Beatrice Woodcock, Patrick Pammenter and Eirin Kahlie Sahagun join athletes from London and the South East in the U17, U15 and U13 age group squads respectively.
They played in an annual international youth korfball tournament in Flanders, Belgium, with matches on October 31 and November 1.
The England squads competed against regional teams from the Netherlands and Belgium - ranked one and two in the world at senior level - as well as the French and German national teams.
Andrew Barnes, coach of the NW Academy, which trains at the Lancaster Royal Grammar School, said: “Congratulations to Bea, Patrick and Eirin on their well-deserved places in the England squads last weekend.
“They played really well and it was great to see their performances on an international stage.
“They follow in the footsteps of three previous call-ups to the England squads; Corin Maden, Freya Procter and Masha Kraskova.
“It’s challenging being a geographical outlier with our academy as most junior development is in the South East of England, but our academy is consistently producing talented young players worthy of their places in the national teams.
“Well done to them all for all their hard work and thanks to the England coaches and team managers for making the trip possible.”
Korfball is a mixed gender team ball sport, with Lancaster Phoenix running the NW Academy pathway along with junior and adult sessions.
The U15 Academy trains on Saturday mornings, twice per month, at Lancaster Royal Grammar School.