Teams of enthusiastic young hockey players from Watton, Norwich City, King's Lynn and Dereham braved the cold and snow flurries to play some energetic and competitive games at Watton JHC's annual U9 mini hockey tournament.

Teams of enthusiastic young hockey players from Watton, Norwich City, King's Lynn and Dereham braved the cold and snow flurries to play some energetic and competitive games at Watton JHC's annual U9 mini hockey tournament.

The tournament, held at Watton Sports Centre, was sponsored by accountants Martin and Acock.

Two teams from Watton took part, the Rabbits and the Hares.

The Rabbits were all playing in their first-ever Tournament and with two players aged only six, met Dereham in their first game. Despite a gallant effort, they lost 4-0.

They next faced a strong Norwich City A side, who won 5-0. In game three, the Rabbits faced Norwich B.

The sides were quite evenly matched and the young Watton players were becoming more confident. In an exciting match the Rabbits kept a clean sheet, ending the game with a 0-0 draw.

The Rabbits played the Hares in the next match and lost 3-0. In their final game against Pelicans Rabbits they were again put under a lot of pressure, but each match saw an improvement in the young players' game and their defending was much stronger. After another exciting game, the Watton side held out and drew 0-0.

Team: Bethany Wright, Tamika Bustin, Matthias Lee, Jazmin Mayes, Owen Hughson, Joel Spilman, Jordan Nicholson and Meghan Arnold. Coach, Lewis Wilkins.

Watton Hares sprung into action with a 3-0 win over Norwich City B. Unfortunately, the Hares couldn't match the success of their first game and lost 4-1 to Norwich City A.

However, they bounced back to form in game three with a 2-0 win over Pelicans. Game four was the local derby with the Rabbits, which the Hares won 3-0.

In their final game Watton were challenging Dereham for the runners-up position.

Watton got off to a good start, with several good attacks on the Dereham goal and several near misses.

Towards the end of the game and still with no score, a Dereham player broke through the Watton players and was one-on-one with Watton's keeper Pollyann Batty.

The Dereham player shot, but Pollyann dived and deflected the ball with her stick in a fantastic save.

This very exciting game ended in a 0-0 draw. A great team effort with some very good hockey.

Steven Gale and Sam Holland were the scorers for Watton Hares and the other members of team were Haidee Anscombe, Billie-Jo Bailey, Thomas Barber, Taylor Cassidy, Amy Church and Pollyann Batty. Coach, Lauren Healy.

Tournament winners were Norwich City A, second Watton Hares, third Dereham, then Pelicans, Norwich City B, Watton Rabbits.