Teenage starlet handed call to Great Britain ranks

SENIOR DUTY: Lucy-Anne Ready. PICTURE: DARREN ROBINSON

IT has been a rapid journey for handball starlet Lucy-Anne Ready - from watching the Great Britain’s women’s team at the London Olympics to playing with them.

The Oldham Sixth Form College student has been selected for the 28-strong GB open-age squad a little over three years after taking up the sport.

Lucy-Anne, from Denshaw, is hoping to make her mark at the European Championships in Sweden - after which attention turns to the world qualifiers at the end of the year.

It has been a meteoric rise for the teenager, who learned of her GB call-up two days before her 18th birthday: “It’s mad, really,” said Lucy-Anne. “I’ve gone from watching my idols, such as Holly Lam-Moores, to being a team-mate.

“I’ve always had aspirations to make the senior GB squad, and now I’m in it I’ll work hard so I can do the best I can. It’s amazing — I couldn’t believe it when I got the call. I’ve broken through and it’s up to me to push on from here.”

To help prepare, the East Manchester Hawks ace goes to Denmark in August to join the country’s world-renowned handball academy in Aarhus. She will spend 12 months there and hopes to play for the successful SK Aarhus team.

Lucy Anne joined NEM Hawks in October 2012 — only two months after the Olympics — and has helped the side to three national under-18s league and cup titles. She is still eligible for the Hawks under-18s as well as being part of the club’s Super Eights women’s team, alongside Holly and nine other GB women’s team players. A former vice-captain of England under-16s, she has also played for GB’s under-18s.

Her inclusion in the senior programme means she will attend training camps throughout the summer, with international friendlies in the autumn, followed by the European finals and the World Championship qualifiers. And all this while studying for her A-levels!.