Over 1,000 participants in 13 different sports took part in the 19th Manx Youth Games, held on Saturday in the capital of the Isle of Man, Douglas, on the island which lies between Great Britain and Ireland in the Irish Sea – a self-governing British Crown dependency.

The National Sports Centre welcomed young people aged six years old (Year 2) up to 16 (Year 10) to compete in badminton, basketball, cricket, crown green bowls, girls football, hockey, netball, squash, swimming, table tennis, tag rugby and, for the first time, handball.

The handball competition, for 9-11 year olds, took place in the Henry Bloom Noble Primary School with six squads battling it out for honours from the north (Northern Thunder and Northern Lightning), west (Western Hammers) and East (Eastern Storm, Eastern Vikings, Eastern Dynamos) of the island.

After 15 games, the Northern Thunder topped the table in the round-robin competition beating off competition from Eastern Dynamos in second spot, followed by Northern Lightning in third.

“Manx Sport and Recreation have been fantastic in their support of handball making it into the Manx Youth Games,” said the Isle of Man Olympic Handball Association’s (IoMOHA) Education Development and Performance Officer Mick Hegarty about the section of the Isle of Man Government’s Department of Education, Sport and Culture.

“Handball is now being firmly established in the Island’s schools with an excellent partnership project between the Isle of Man Olympic Handball Association, the Irish Olympic Handball Association and University College Isle of Man to produce the Island’s future Coaches, Referees and Officials.

“All of these people were in action at the event which saw high-quality, well-fought games and which is laying the groundwork for the future of the sport on the Island.”

Isle of Man Handball will continue to focus on the development of young handball players but are also looking to re-establish their senior programme with old and new players urged to contact them through their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/IOMHandball/

For the full results and more pictures from the 2019 Manx Youth Games handball competition, click HERE

Photos: Isle of Man Olympic Handball Association