A LOCHGELLY schoolboy says that being selected to play in a World Ice Hockey Championship is yet to sink in.

Seventeen-year-old Renny Marr, of Lindsay Place, will travel to the Estonian capital of Tallin next month for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) under-18 world championship with Great Britain, who will face off against the hosts, Croatia, South Korea, Netherlands and Poland. They will play four matches in a round-robin format from 22nd-28th March in Division Two Group A and goalminder Renny, who plays with the Kirkcaldy Kestrels club, but has appeared on the bench for the Fife Flyers, was one of two netminders picked after a successful training camp last month.

He told Times Sport, “I found out a week and a bit after the training camp and I was shocked - it’s still not sunk in yet.

“I feel proud because there were three goalies who were as good as each other and this will be my first major tournament at the top level.

“I’ve played at a few tournaments with Scotland before but this is a higher standard.

“I’ve just come back from another training camp with the team to get to the know everyone, which was pretty easy as it was mostly people who were there during the trials.

“I’m going to try and use this as a springboard to better things, like hopefully go on and play at Elite League level.” Renny, whose older brother John plays stateside while at university in the United States, has been involved with GB’s prospects camp for the past three years, but was unsuccessful at a training camp last year, although he has represented Scotland in the sport from under-11 level to under-19s.

But while he took interest in the sport through his brother, his route to guarding the net was not planned.

He said, “I always took interest after my brother but I actually started off as an outfield player; I never wanted to be a goalie. But in one game when I was younger, I dived in front of a few pucks, tried out in goal and did well so that was it.

“I’ve been training with the Flyers for a season and a half now which has been good in helping me improve.” Proud mum Tracy added, “I’m delighted for him because he’s worked really hard. He trains six times a week so I have plenty of work as a taxi driver! But he’s come through the Fife development programme and done well.” The squad are set to travel to Finland for a training camp before moving on to Tallin for the tournament.