Lucy Macnair almost fell off the couch when she learned she had been shortlisted for the Scottish Women In Sport Young Sportswoman of the Year.
And given the 18-year-old’s schedule, the only surprise is that she found time to perch her backside on a seat at all.
“I was so shocked,” she laughed. “I had sat down on the sofa and was scrolling through my phone. I checked my email and I was just blown away…I did not see that coming at all. My Mum was the same! She was sitting next to me and both of us were just so excited.”
Macnair will have to wait until Friday evening when the awards ceremony takes place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow before discovering whether it is more than just a place on the shortlist that she is celebrating.
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“Oh, my, I can’t even think about it,” she said. “If I was to win it, it would make not just my year but all my years of playing sport so worth it. All my life I have played sport since I was a little girl and sometimes just feeling that you had to beat the boys.
“Winning this would just feel amazing but when you look at the shortlist and what the achievements are of the girls who are on it, it is just incredible to be in this position.”
Macnair’s schedule is not for the faint of heart. Studying at Napier University in Edinburgh she commutes to and from Stirling in order that she can fit in training in two sports; goalkeeper for SWPL side Partick Thistle and a Scottish internationalist in water polo.
Macnair led Caledonia to British Water Polo Legue Division Two, made her debut for Scotland’s senior team at 14 and is now a key scorer at EU Nations. She was also one of only two Scots selected from the Great Britain Hawks.
In short, if she is not on the pitch, she’s in the pool.
“Every day is busy,” she observed. “But it has always been like that. I think it is an honour to go and compete at the highest level and I just want to keep pushing myself all the time.
“When I was a kid I swam but I started to get a little bit bored. Then my brother did a water polo come-and-try-class and loved it so I decided I would also try.
“It was such fun and I really got into it. From there, it all just followed on. At school, I kicked a ball about the playground but then my friend’s Mum started up a football team so I decided to join her and head along to football.
“I was actually a striker right up until about four or five years ago. We were playing and a PE teacher came to me and said there was no goalkeeper and could I go in goals. All of a sudden, there I was diving about it and loving it again!”
Macnair admits that she sometimes gets a quizzical look from her Jags team-mates as she educates them about her other sport.
“It sometimes comes up when I can’t make training. I was at the 2026 Women's EU Nations Water Polo Cup in Brno in the Czech Republic last month and obviously some of the girls from football are a bit like, ‘you’re at what?’
“But they are all incredibly supportive. Gary Holt, our head coach, is just an incredible manager and motivator. I love working under him. He comes from a military background and he really pushes us to the limit which I love.
“He understands the demands of doing both sports and has only ever been really encouraging and supportive, as have all the girls.”
If it comes to a point when push comes to shove and a decision has to be made in terms of sticking to one, Macnair knows which direction she is going on.
“It would have to be football,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to be fully professional in the women’s game and play full-time. That would probably be my dream.
“At the minute it is fun to do both and I will do that for as long as I can. There was a point when I first went into Thistle and I thought I would have to step back a bit from water polo but I have been able to manage both.
“It means sometimes that I am maybe doing a bit of work on my own in the pool but I am navigating the demands of both.
“I am second choice goalkeeper just now at Thistle and there has been a bit of chat about me going out on loan to get some first-team experience. I’d like to do that and then really push to become first choice.
“I love Mary Earps and I think I am a bit like her in that I am confident and I’m quite outspoken which I think you need if you’re going to be a goalkeeper!
“But even just finding myself looking across the pitch at the likes of Lee Gibson feels surreal. I remember being at Hampden as a kid with my mates and watching her playing for Scotland so to be in this position now is just amazing. I am just so excited for what comes next.”
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