Consolation came on several fronts for the provincial host Oilfields Drillers.
Oilfields took the consolation title in both the girls and boys competition at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Team Handball Tier II Provincial Championships, held May 9-11 at the Diamond Valley school.
“It was a nice experience to host, it was different than travelling,” said the Drillers’ Maddox Young, a Grade 12 student. “And it was good to get everybody who doesn’t know handball to see handball.
“It was our third time for our seniors to be at provincials and it was a good time.”
Team handball has been a varsity sport for three years on the boys side at Oilfields and is brand new this season for the Drillers’ girls squad.
“It’s a lot different than volleyball or basketball, being that not many people had seen handball before,” Young said. “A lot of people enjoyed it and the turnout was pretty good, the school liked it.
“And I hope that it put a spark into some kids’ minds and they’ll choose to play in the future.”
The Drillers girls were pooled with Two Hills and Lacombe’s Central Alberta Christian School and dropped a pair of close games in round robin.
“It was really interesting and fun,” said Drillers senior Shona Nicholson. “We’ve never really done it before, playing teams that knew what they were doing was way better and a learning experience. I really enjoyed it and I think our entire team really did.
“Having the whole school here and getting to experience the energy in the gym when they were all watching and cheering, even though they didn’t really know the game, that was really fun. It’s always been like that in other sports, but just nice to experience it one more time as seniors.”
Oilfields rallied with the consolation title on the line, handing Mayerthorpe a 22-9 defeat.
“We all went into the tournament looking for a win in any form because we hadn’t really played before,” Nicholson said. “Losing the first two games against those experienced and successful teams was tough, but also really fun.
“At the end of the day when we got to have that final win that was just really rewarding.”
The Drillers boys, bronze medallists at last year’s provincials, had narrow defeats to Mayerthorpe and Ardrossan in pool play. They closed it out in fine form with a strong 56-29 result over Olds Koinonia.
“The seniors and one other player had seen all of these teams before at provincials last year and the year before,” Young said. “It was really nice to end on a good note for the last game that we’ll play for this sport.
“That truly means a lot to me and it was so much fun.”
In the girls competition, CACHS won gold, St. Paul took silver and Old Scona snared bronze. For the boys, Ardrossan took the title, CACHS earned silver and St. Paul claimed bronze.
For more information, visit asaa.ca/championships.
