Edinburgh Accies and West Edinburgh netball clubs have completed a merger ahead of the new season in which the latter will compete as Accies Juniors.
Gemma Sole, Accies club president and interim head coach, says of her Oriam-based club’s plans: “The merger will see us fielding teams on three levels – performance, academy and youths.
“Accies will be competing in the National League, a performance league for the top eight teams in Scotland, and Edinburgh leagues.
“At junior level we will have new teams at under-12, under-14 and under-16 while our under-17s will play in a division of the adult league.”
It promises to be a big season in Scottish netball with Gemma explaining: “This summer’s world championships (featuring Scotland) were very positive for the sport. It’s always encouraging when you have friends and family saying how much they enjoyed an international tournament on television.”
League matches get underway at the beginning of next month and Accies as well as welcoming back 2014 Scotland Commonwealth Games star Jo Pettit from a season out with a ruptured achilles tendon have recruited well.
Newcomers include Lexy Gillies (mid court) who was part of West Edinburgh’s Scottish Youth Cup winning team and she has arrived along with her colleague from the Scottish Youth Commonwealth Games team, Heidi Dawson, a shooter from North Berwick Rocketeers.
A non-travelling reserve from the Youth Games, Ruby McLean (defender) will also be in the squad having arrived from Peebles.
Accies performance squad for ’23-24 with asterisks denoting new signings: Beth Weir (captain), Clare Tuohy, Clare White*, Eadaoin McCormack, Hannah Gaunt, Heather Marshall, Heidi Dawson*, Jo Pettitt, Katie Renton, Katy Matthews*, Lauren Pollock,
Lexy Gillies*, Meg Norman*, Phoebe Crane*, Rachel Forsyth*, Rebecca Innes, Rebecca Morrison, Ruby Maclean*, Sam Drummond*, Siobhan Sole
Adds Gemma: “We also have six players competing in the Netball Scotland Super Cup competition – a short, four-team competition made up of Scotland’s top netball athletes, running from September 23 and during October across Scotland. They are Clare Tuohy, Jo Pettitt, Siobhan Sole, Heidi Dawson, Ruby Maclean and Lexy Gillies.”
Adding further lustre to Accies hopes is the retention of sponsors RBC Brewin Dolphin as well as property firm Coulters and Proteus, who specialise in project management softwear.
Photographs show Lexy Gillies (blue dress) competing in this year Commonwealth Youth Games in the Caribbean, Jo Pettit (purple dress( playing for Team Scotland in the 201 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Heidi Dawson (pink dress) competing for Scotland under-17s against the UAE.
Evergreen sports journalist. Previously published in many publications around the world. Send me your local sports stories. billlothian1008@gmail.com
