ARDOYNE Kickhams GAC welcomed pupils from local schools to the club’s handball court to mark the reopening of the newly-refurbished facility which sees the Kickhams complete their ‘drive for five’ codes of Gaelic games.
“This is a hugely significant day in the recent history of Ardoyne Kickhams GAC,” said club chairman Philip McTaggart.
“We began an underage development programme about 10 years ago and we are starting to see the benefits of that in our adult teams with a steady stream of young players filtering into our hurling team and our men’s and ladies’ football teams.
“We recently got camogie back up and running after a period of inactivity and with the opening of the handball court, we are once again providing five codes of gaelic games to the young people of the area.
“All we need now is a rounders team and we’ll complete the GAA family of games!”
The court first opened in 1984 and has spawned a number of Antrim, Ulster and All-Ireland champions over the decades but had fallen into disrepair in recent years.
McTaggart thanked Kerr Property Holdings and the Crumlic Star SC Chairperson for their support in refurbishing the court and looked forward to local schools using the facility along with club members young and not so young.
The court will be open for use by all local schools said Ardoyne Handball Club secretary John Martin.
“I am delighted to see pupils from the local schools here today as we will be making the handball court open to all local schools to enable them to incorporate handball into their PE and afterschools activity,” he said.
“Handball is a fully inclusive sport. It is played by boys and girls and is a hugely enjoyable sport to play; the fitness benefits are vast and it is a great game for children’s physical development and physical literacy skills.
“It’s great to see the court back to its former glory and I look forward to seeing new recruits to the sport taking to the court in coming weeks and months and perhaps some ‘old hands’ returning to take up the game again.”
