South Queensferry volleyball players called up for Scotland

Eight City of Edinburgh Volleyball Club athletes have been selected to represent Scotland at the forthcoming Under-20 and Under-19 European Championships, Small Countries Division.
City of Edinburgh VC players who have been called up for Scotland duty. Left to right are, back, Harris Ritchie, Steven Smillie, Ben McHardy and Fraser Glass and, front, Rhian Murphy, Emma Waldie and Ellie Stewart.
 Not pictured is Edward Oldbury.City of Edinburgh VC players who have been called up for Scotland duty. Left to right are, back, Harris Ritchie, Steven Smillie, Ben McHardy and Fraser Glass and, front, Rhian Murphy, Emma Waldie and Ellie Stewart.
 Not pictured is Edward Oldbury.
City of Edinburgh VC players who have been called up for Scotland duty. Left to right are, back, Harris Ritchie, Steven Smillie, Ben McHardy and Fraser Glass and, front, Rhian Murphy, Emma Waldie and Ellie Stewart. Not pictured is Edward Oldbury.

Five boys from the South Queensferry based volleyball club have been selected for Scotland Under-20 men, who will fly out to the Faroe Islands next Thursday.

They will compete over three days, playing matches against Luxembourg, hosts Faroe Islands and Iceland.

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The selected City of Edinburgh athletes are wing spikers Ben McHardy and Harris Ritchie, middle blockers Edward Oldbury and Steven Smillie and opposite spiker Fraser Glass.

Meanwhile, the three girls from the club have been selected for Scotland’s Under-19 women squad and will travel to Liechtenstein on April 29.

There they will play the Faroe Islands, hosts Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Wales.

Middle blocker Rhian Murphy and wing spiker Ellie Stewart will gain their first Scotland Under-19 women’s caps .

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And setter Emma Waldie - who gained her first Scotland junior women caps in 2016, and her first Scotland senior women caps in 2017 - will captain the Scotland team.

Ian Brownlee, who established the City of Edinburgh Volleyball Club youth development programmes commented: “This is a fantastic achievement by the athletes and represents many years of hard work at club training and league matches and giving up their weekends and holidays to attend Scotland national team training and trials.

“It is a very proud moment also for their parents, friends and families who have given them so much support with their volleyball.

“To have five boys and three girls selected is also a great reflection of the coaching team we have here at City of Edinburgh Volleyball Club as we have more athletes selected across in the boys and girls junior squads than any other Scottish club.

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“Arthur Biagi and Doug Crockery have been doing years of patient work alongside me with the boys. Brazilian coach Juliana Facanha made an invaluable impression on the girls over the last few years and this year Danny Traylor has taken over our junior women’s programme and is doing an outstanding job and it is great to see these young athletes making so much progress and achieving their goals.

“We wish all the Scottish athletes the best of luck for their tournaments in the Faroe Islands and Luxembourg.”