Shane Buckland wins Player of the World Cup award

England’s Shane Buckland has been named as the best male player at the Under-17 Korfball World Cup.

The 10th edition of the U17 Korfball World Cup took place last weekend (19-20 March 2016) in sports centre “Dioscuren” Schijndel in The Netherlands. 10 teams from three continents took part in the World Cup which is patronized by the International Korfball Federation.

Reacting to the news England U17 coach Danny Miles said: “Shane deserved the award; he works extremely hard, has a great attitude towards his training and is a genuinely lovely lad.

“It was obvious that some of our opponents attempted to put Shane off his game, often getting very physical but it didn’t faze him at all. He took it all in his stride and stuck to getting on with the job.

“Everyone knows Shane’s parents history within Korfball and that adds extra pressure as people expect him to be a good player because of that, but again Shane doesn’t get fazed by that at all.

“I’m proud of the entire squad,they are a fantastic group and have a great attitude towards everything we ask of them, but for Shane he’s grown this tournament and shown he has the capabilities and potential to go on to be a top player for England for many years to come.”

England U17 finished the World Cup on a high with victory in the Bronze medal match – the team won the Bronze medal with a 17-16 Golden goal win over Catalonia.

Congratulations Shane – a fantastic achievement!