THE USHA Junior National Four-Wall Championships have traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Irish players over the years.
Last December, Carrickmore’s 15-year-old Lorcan McBride returned from Arizona with a record three gold medals, while there was a host of other Irish winners.
McBride added to that record by winning the Quinn Building Products Ulster GAA Writers’ Merit Award for last December and no doubt there will be more Irish success when the tournament is staged for the 62nd time this month.
The games will be played from December 26 -30 at the Lattof YMCA in Des Plaines, Illinois, with the closing date for entries being today.
Already a dozen Irish contestants have entered but the initial list, which was issued on Wednesday, doesn’t include McBride or other notables from Ireland.
However, Sean Kerr, from Brackey in Tyrone, and Lurgan teenager Megan McCann will be making the trip with high hopes.
McCann, who plays out of the Eugene Quinn Handball Club, has been in fine form over the past few weeks in the Golden Girls’ singles and doubles competitions and must surely be a contender for USHA Juniors’ medals.
She will play in the Girls’ 19&Under doubles and singles event.
In the singles she will play in both the small ball and big ball events.
Kerr has entered in the Boys’ 19&Under doubles and singles small ball competitions.
An added incentive for the competitors is that US Four-Wall champion Killian Carroll, from Cork, will be giving a clinic on the opening day of the competiton.
Carroll played in the USHA Junior Championships when he was a teenager and he is now Boston-based and the US number one.
