EK82 Handball Club
EK82 Handball Club are a handball Club based in East Kilbride, in the South Lanarkshire area of Scotland. They play in the Scottish League which is regulated by the Scottish Handball Association. History. East Kilbride Handball Club was started in 1972, the same year that the Scottish Handball Association was formed, and was based in the John Wright Sports Centre. Also in this year the EK Ladies Team took part in the first ever Ladies Handball Match in Great Britain against a team from Bell College, Hamilton. In 1982 East Kilbride Handball Club merged with a club  from Barrhead called Allander Handball Club to form EK82 Handball Club, and went on to win both the Scottish and British Leagues, winning the honour of representing the British Handball Association in the European Cup of 1983/84. The following season, 1983/84, EK82 retained both the Scottish and British Championships and represented Scotland at the Natwest Inter 84 Tournament hosted by Whitchurch Bristol Handball Club. In 2004 the juniors entered the Partille Cup, the largest handball tournament in the world. In 2009 the Juniors won the Scottish League and Cup double. Ek's u21 development squad have won the Scottish second  division for three seasons running 2013/2014 and 2015. In season 2015/16 east kilbride coach Michael Lavery realised his dream when his primary schools development programme which started in 2006 produced a dozen players to the standard required to compete in the first division. East kilbride went to their first scottish cup final , defeating Livingston and Edinburgh and only failing at the final hurdle to Glasgow in the final. The average age of ek was 18. In the league season they defeated Glasgow and Tryst 77 for the first time in over 20 years to finish 4th. Thanks to East kilbride 's continuing development programme there was representation at all age groups in season 15/16, the mini team finished fourth and the u16 team reached the semi final of the scottish cup. The club membership has risen from 30 to 50 this season. European Cup. EK82's opponents in their only European Cup adventure was THW Kiel of Germany. The first leg was played at the Kiel Ostseehalle, in Germany in front of a crowd of 5000 on 30 September 1983, a game which East Kilbride were to lose 43:8 (21:2 at half time). The second leg was played in the  Cogenkrooghalle, Neustadt in Germany in front of an 800 capacity crowd on 3 October 1983. Again the home side were to lose to the German Champions, this by a score of 6:44 (2:18 at half time) ending their run in the competition. European Cup Winners Cup. East Kilbride represented Great Britain in the European Cup Winners Cup during season 1975/76. East Kilbride were drawn against the Belgian outfit, Progres HC Seraing, in a 2 legged encounter. The first match was at the John Wright Sports Centre in front of a crowd of 500 spectators, a match which the home side  were to lose 17-43. The return leg saw East Kilbride lose 7-35. Minis. Minis are children Under 11 who play in a shortened version of handball called Mini Handball. The club compete in Mini Handball Tournaments up and down the country. Primary Schools Development. Ek handball club operated a local Primary school development programme in partnership with active schools. All of the primary schools in east kilbride are offered taster sessions and a chance to play in Handball festivals. There is also the stepping stone to training and playing with Ek82 handball club at the john wright sports  centre or at the Alistair mccoist complex' Primary schools that took part in 2014/15: Maxwellton, Southpark and Heathery Knowe won the honours at this year's primary school festivals. Heathery Knowe went on to represent the EK schools at the national primary school championships at Ravenscraig and finished 5th out of 16 teams. In 2016 Maxwellton primary won the scottish primary school championships after receiving taster sessions from EK development coach Michael Lavery and going on to win the local schools festival to qualify for the national championships. 2017. Ek82 are now sponsored by Andrew Crawford jewellers and engravers & the  watch repair centre in East kilbride.