The junior section of Ely City Hockey Club has had a busy start to the season with the U14 boys, U12s, U8s and U10s all taking part in festivals.

The U8s, U10s and U12s took part in the development festival hosted by Newmarket Hockey Club last weekend. It was the first time the U8s had played in a festival and they were fantastic.

The Ely City Under-8s team.The Ely City Under-8s team. (Image: Julia Gilbert)

The U-10s team took part in the festival at Newmarket.The U-10s team took part in the festival at Newmarket. (Image: Julia Gilbert)

Great team work and passing between them and some awesome goals scored. Rosie and Lizelle were brilliant defending the goal and Oliver and Eli were great up-front working together.

The U10s also showed excellent team work. The new team members really gave it their all and it was great to see everyone working together.

A call out to Liam who has joined us this season, he brought great energy to the matches and really was tenacious in getting the ball down to the scoring D.

There was some fantastic passing and shots on goal by all, with some impressive defence work too. The team had mixed results but it was really good to see the team’s determination and grit to keep going, working together and having fun. A great opening tournament for the season.

The U12 girls took part in their first competitive matches of the season in a non development festival on October 13, going up against strong sides from St Neots, Cambridge City, Cambridge South & Cambridge Juniors.

It was fantastic to welcome debutants Millie, Fleur, and Alexandra to the U12 team, as well as Mary and Alice, who both made the step up from the U10s.

Congratulations to Mary who opened her scoring account in style with two excellent goals in the final game against Cambridge South, and to Rosie who was selected by the opposition as player of the match.

And on Sunday, October 6, the Ely City U14 Boys participated in a multi-team event in Cambridge.

Playing against more experienced teams from Cambridge City HC, Cambridge South, Newmarket and Cambridge Nomads, the team played brilliant hockey, with two wins and two draws remained undefeated.

The goals were shared among the team, but it was the team spirit, great defending and creative play that really shone out during the day.