Interview and article produced by SW/S Digital Committee member, Faatima Gardee.
Recently, I spoke to Kasia Nightingale, a player, referee and committee member of Tryst 77, a handball club based in Cumbernauld about her journey with handball as well as the club’s outstanding achievements and progress.
Before this article, I admittedly knew very little about handball and I figure that this might be the case for a few readers, so I’d like to start by briefly introducing the history and rules of the sport. Handball was first played in 1917, developed from an outdoor variation. There are two teams of seven players including a goalkeeper, the game is two thirty-minute halves in which the teams compete to score goals. The sport is fast-paced, exciting and seems to blend basketball, netball and football. Thinking of the worldwide popularity of those sports, I can’t think of a more exciting combination!
Kasia got involved with handball at a very young age because of her older sisters and family who were heavily involved with their local handball club back in Poland.
“Growing up in that environment made the sport feel like home. It’s something that I surrounded myself with. At school, outside of school, on holidays. It has shaped my entire journey from then.”
She notes how she got involved with Tryst 77 upon finishing university and wanting to continue the sport, choosing Tryst because of their ‘good structure, ambition and brilliant community’. Kasia is also a referee in the Scottish Senior Women’s and Men’s handball league.
“Oftentimes I would have a game in the morning as a player and then referee later the same day. Because it’s such a small community, people often take on different roles – sometimes even within the same day.”
Referees are such an important and often overlooked part of sport. My conversation with Kasia highlighted how integral refereeing is and how it can provide a unique perspective to a familiar sport.
“It’s a completely different dynamic in terms of understanding the sport. As a player, it’s natural to get frustrated with referees but as a referee you gain so much more perspective. Your mindset becomes more technical — focused on rules and timing. It genuinely takes time to adjust. You can watch a game and feel frustrated but once you’re in that position yourself, the perspective is completely different. It’s a great balance to do both. It’s also nice that the players I referee know me and that we’ve built trust over the years. I hope they know they’re in safe hands – I’m there to make the game fair and to keep them safe.”
Tryst 77 was founded in 1977, hence the name, and like most clubs, it has faced its fair share of barriers. Most notably, struggling to find space to train which can pose difficulties when switching from smaller training areas to games on full-sized courts. They’ve worked incredibly hard to push through and overcome these challenges to success, motivated by their love of the sport and Tryst 77.
“We’ve been a club for many years now and have had a lot of individual success and titles, but we still face challenges that many minority sports experience. We don’t always have access to full-size handball courts and much of what we do relies on self-funding. Over time, we’ve built strong structures and found creative ways to keep raising our level. We remain ambitious and people keep showing up simply because we love handball. As soon as you step on court — as a coach, player, or referee — you forget about everything else. That’s why we’ll probably be here until the very end.”
Tryst’s efforts have paid off as the club and handball as a whole in Scotland has seen a huge amount of growth in both numbers and visibility, aided by competitions such as the London 2012 Olympics which saw the historic debut of GB women’s handball squad, captained by Scotland’s Lynn McCafferty, who is a player and coach at Tryst Handball. This, along with the club’s coaches’ dedication to visiting schools, training players and teaching PE teachers how to coach handball have contributed to the club’s amazing development.
“It doesn’t just end with that one visit. The growth I’ve witnessed over the past few years has been really positive — higher participation numbers and wider geographical coverage. At Tryst and within Scottish Handball, there’s a real core family that you become part of. Once you’re in, you get to know everyone. It’s common for new members to return with friends, siblings or neighbours, and that’s how the growth continues. That’s the fun part.”
This welcoming, community-oriented mindset and the club’s commitment to building connections has been the driving force of Tryst’s growth and longevity.
“A lot of our success and visibility has come through word of mouth. Someone enjoys a game or a training session, then brings a friend, a neighbour or carpools with a newer player to the next event. That’s how the community comes together. Tryst also has a strong relationship with the Scottish Handball Association, with many of our players coaching in the national academy. As younger players move through age groups, they often become coaches for the younger teams. We’ve seen players grow into supportive roles, then become coaches themselves – sometimes even coaching their siblings or cousins, which is really special. That’s how this long-term system works. You come to a game, invite family or friends, mention it at school – and everyone has a good time doing it. Needless to say, it supports social development as much as the physical, fitness side.”
The results of this approach speaks for itself. Tryst currently has over one hundred registered players across all leagues, genders and age groups. They have two senior teams and two women’s teams in the national leagues, meaning that they are able to enter two teams per league for both the women and men’s divisions. Their last season was record breaking for the club, with them winning three competitions and placing top three in all five competitions that they competed in.
Alongside their focus to provide the community and social impact of handball, a number of Tryst’s players have progressed to national and international success.
“We have a legendary player, Lynn McCafferty, who captained Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics. She’s recently returned to playing and is part of the senior team again, which has been fantastic. We’ve also had many players represent Scotland and Team GB on European and global stages. Some have reached the limits of development in Scotland and moved abroad to compete with European clubs. There’s huge ambition and courage in those players and we’ve been fortunate to support them on those handball journeys.”
Interestingly, there is a larger group of girls involved in handball and at Tryst where the number of boys getting involved through school fluctuates a bit more.
“It largely comes down to competing with bigger sports like football and rugby. We’ve found that some girls don’t always feel drawn to those environments and instead find a safe space and the same level of passion within handball.”
Oftentimes in schools, girls don’t get introduced to as many sports as boys or if they do, direct links to clubs aren’t always provided. Tryst’s work in this area is incredibly valuable as they link in with PE teachers and schools, providing an outlet for the interest that we know girls have to try out and compete in sports and at clubs. This link to a club is extremely valuable as it also decreases the likelihood of girls quitting sport after school since they have links that go beyond their institution of education.
The journey, achievements and ambition of Kasia and Tryst 77 are incredible but the thing that most stood out to me during our conversation was the overwhelming love she and her club have for handball and the community that the players, coaches, referees, friends and families have created.
I’d like to conclude this article with a final quote from Kasia about why she loves handball. It left me feeling incredibly inspired and excited to see what the future holds for her and Tryst 77:
“It really pushes you. It really challenges you in the ways you wouldn’t imagine.
“It challenges you physically but also mentally. There’s always something to improve. You have to work on your technical ability. You have to work on your fitness, you have to be strong as well, but you also have to be quite smart in terms of quick decision making and playing with other players.
“Just as important is teamwork and community. You never feel alone. Once you become a part of a team and a club like Tryst, you just feel like you’re part of something bigger and you just genuinely want to do your best so other people can benefit from it. In terms of handball purely as a game, there’s no way not to work together. You have to work together for every goal and to the same in defence. Without good teamwork and mutual trust, you will simply not succeed. And I think that’s really, why a lot of people, when they hear about handball, they end up trying and truly enjoying it. You can focus on improving yourself and look at your abilities but you need to work together and that social aspect is often why people just tend to come along and stay for the rest of their lives, really.”
