Zooey Perry

Zooey Elizabeth Regina "Effy" Perry (born 22 September 1996) is a British handball player who plays for London GD, a team based in London, England, and compete in the British Premier Handball League.

Zooey Perry
Perry with Olympia HC in Liverpool, May 2019
Personal information
Full name Zooey Elizabeth Regina Perry
Date of birth (1996-09-22) 22 September 1996
Place of birth Billingham, England
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 London GD
Number 28
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2020 Middlesex University HC 24 (4)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2018–2020 Olympia HC 2 (0)
2018-19 → Olympia HC II 7 (3)
2020– London GD 4 (0)
2020- → London GD II 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

College career

Upon starting her undergraduate degree at Middlesex University, Perry joined the Women's Handball team. Initially, she played in the right-back/wing position due to being a left-handed thrower but would fill the goalkeeping position towards the end of the season due to injuries. In the 2016/17 season, the team would narrowly miss out on winning the LUSL (London University Sports Leagues) Handball League to UCL.

In Perry's second season, she was named the captain of the Women's team. It would turn out to be an incredibly successful season, as the team were crowned champions of the LUSL Handball League in 2017/18 without losing a single game. They would also enjoy their best result in the British University Handball Championships since winning the tournament in 2015/16, finishing in 3rd place after losing 12-7 to eventual winners Loughborough University.

At the annual Middlesex University Sports Awards on Friday 18 May 2018, Perry was announced as the winner of the 'Captain of the Year' award for her work in developing the club and leading them to a successful season.[1]

Between 2018 and 2020, Perry would remain as the captain of the Women's team but they would only play once in two seasons, as the number of new players was small in comparison to the number of players who left after the 2017/18 season.

Senior career

Olympia HC

Zooey Perry signed for Olympia HC prior to the 2018/19 season.[2] It would prove to be a successful first season with the club as they went on to win the Premier Handball League (PHL) title without losing a single league game all season.[3] She would fail to make an appearance in the 2018/19 Premier League season for Olympia, playing instead with the club's development team in the Regional Handball League - South East. However, she would make her first appearance for the Premier League squad in the Liverpool International Handball Tournament on Saturday 25th & Sunday 26 May, picking up a winner's medal as Olympia would defeat the previous year's winners Bergen of Norway.[4]

On Saturday 19 October 2019, Perry would make her Premier Handball League debut for Olympia in a 23-22 loss to North East Manchester Hawks.[5] Her first Premier League win would come two weeks later, in a narrow 22-21 win vs West London Eagles Handball Club on Saturday 2 November.[6]

In an Instagram post, Perry confirmed that she had parted company with Olympia due to 'out-of-Handball commitments' on Monday 23 December. In the same post, she confirmed that she had transferred to the previous season's Premier League runners-up and Olympia's rivals, London GD.[7]

London GD

In what would be an almost exact mirroring of her time with Olympia HC in the PHL, Perry would be included in the travelling London GD squad for their 21-20 win vs NEM Hawks on Saturday 11 January 2020, before making her debut 15 days later in GD's 33-25 win against West London Eagles Handball Club.[8]

Personal life

Perry came out as transsexual while in secondary school at the age of 13 and began to transition in September 2013. In a tweet from her personal Twitter account after Olympia's 2018-19 league-winning final game of the season, Perry stated that she believes she is the first openly transsexual player in British Handball history, as well as the first to be a member of a Premier Handball League-winning team.[9]

Since September 2020, she has been a Pro Ambassador for Athlete Ally, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ athletic advocacy group that is "committed to making athletic communities more inclusive and less discriminatory and helping athletes to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality".[10]

References
  1. "Sports Ball 2018 - Winners".
  2. "Olympia HC player profile".
  3. "Unbeaten Olympia Take Title". englandhandball.com.
  4. "Olympia and Astra crowned Liverpool International Tournament Champions".
  5. "Olympia HC - NEM Hawks Scoresheet (19/10/19)".
  6. "West London Eagles HC - Olympia HC Scoresheet (02/11/19)".
  7. "Instagram post confirming Perry's transfer".
  8. "London GD - West London Eagles HC Scoresheet (26/1/20)".
  9. "Where History Begins".
  10. "Athlete Ally profile".
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