Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) Under-14 girls are the Devon champions.

Just four years ago this age group side were in their infancy as a team and suffering some heavy losses.

However the players, and their coaches, stuck with it and, four years on they are Devon’s top team!

Katie Dean and Jim Harris are the coaches responsible for the ‘rise and rise’ of this particular SOHC team.

Playing at finals day, the SOHC youngsters made a shaky start to their day with a 0-0 draw. But whatever was then said post match by the coaches to the team – it worked!

Game two saw SOHC defeat ECVV 5-0 and they went one better in their next match, beating Torbay 7-0!

That set them up with a semi-final meeting with Exe, one of the few teams to have got the better of SOHC during the regular season, but, with confidence clearly high, the team passed superbly and defended with discipline on their way to an impressive 6-0 success.

That set them up with a final meeting against Plymouth Marjon and, once again every single player rose to the occasion as SOHC won 4-1 to be crowned Devon champions.

Thanks are due, in a abundance too, to coaches Katie and Jim for their combined dedication and patience and also to Heather Scott for all the organising. Last, but certainly not least with regard to the rounds of thanks, to the parents for ferrying around all over the county this year.