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Our youngest member (by far) to feature in our 'Up Close' series, greenislandladies.co.uk caught up with Kirstie Lammey fresh from representing Ulster in the Under 16 inter pros!
Kirstie, who celebrated her 16th birthday on New Year's Day 2007, joined Greenisland Ladies Junior club in 2005. She was a late comer to the junior set up, joining mid way through the season and as a result of this only featured in four U14 matches. However this did not stop her from picking up two awards at the end of the season - 'Top Goalscorer' with 11 goals and 'Most Consistent Player'. Kirstie is pictured below receiving her awards from then Junior co ordinator Norma Montgomery.
The 2005 / 2006 season was her first in ladies hockey and it did not take Kirstie long to make her mark in the Senior club. Having played several games in the 2nd XI already she was called up to make a sub appearance for the 1st XI in November in a home game against Banbridge. Coming on in the second half Kirstie topped off her 1st XI debut with a goal, in a game Greenisland went on to win 5-0. Kirstie rates this as 'her best moment so far' and rightly so, scoring on her debut for the 1st XI aged just 14.
Despite being selected for the Northern Ireland Youth Games two years ago, Kirstie was unable to play and therefore missed out on the possibility of Ulster trials. However she was selected for the Regional Development squad again in 2005/06 and then got her opportunity for further representative honours by being selected for the Ulster U16 trials. Kirstie is pictured below (back row, middle) with four other Greenisland Ladies in the 2005/06 RDS Squad.
The Ulster trials were held in August and September 2006 and Kirstie knew a few familiar faces from the RDS squad. When the squad was finalised and training began Kirstie describes the camaraderie amongst the group, "All the girls were so nice and making friends with them was really easy". Training was intense, with a session every other week and practice matches against the likes of Harlequins and Pegasus in between.
Kirstie explains that as the squad was made up of 18 players and only 16 were allowed to be named for each match there was always a fear that she may be one of the two who missed out. In fact she played in all the matches and despite the intense pressure she felt playing for Ulster she won several vital penalty corners for the team which were converted into goals. The rivalry between Provinces was so great that some of the Ulster squad were rudely awakened at 5am one morning by members of another team! This didn't affect morale in the Ulster camp though as great fun and experience was shared between all the girls.
An Ulster victory just rounded off a super weekend for Kirstie and was to the delight of the home fans which Kirstie describes as the best, "There was lots of people up watching from other Provinces but the Ulster supporters were great". Her best moment was lifting the shield at the end, as "after all the work we had done, it had all paid off in the end". Kirstie is pictured below in her Ulster kit and with the successful squad.
Kirstie has devoted a lot of time to hockey so far this season, combining playing for Greenisland Ladies 1st XI, with school hockey for Carrick Grammar and training with the Ulster Under 16s. She has come on leaps and bounds in recent months and feels that the extra training has improved her positioning on the pitch. To sum up her experiences she concludes, "I am so happy with getting this far with hockey but want to go a lot further".
After her performances at the inter pro tournament Kirstie was selected for Irish Under 16 trials and although not successful on this occasion, this is still a remarkable achievement.
UP CLOSE WITH... ALYSON DOUGLAS
UP CLOSE WITH... NORMA MONTGOMERY
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