THE Roller Village skating rink in Walpole Highway hosted a round of the Eastern Counties Roller Hockey league for the first time, as its academy looks to become one of the best in the UK. Teams from Cambridge, Norwich and King's Lynn played at Roller Village on Sunday.

Story by: TOM JACKSON

FENLAND'S skating rink hosted a round of the Eastern Counties Roller Hockey league for the first time, as its academy looks to become one of the best in the UK.

Teams from Cambridge, Norwich and King's Lynn arrived in Walpole Highway on Sunday for their latest round of Eastern Counties Division Four fixtures.

It was also the first chance for Roller Village's two teams to perform competitively on home soil.

Both Roller Village teams were only formed nine months ago, as part of the Roller Village Skating Academy.

The academy was the pledge of owners - 11 times British skating champion Ashley Moore and his wife Angela - to find the UK's next generation of skating stars. They took over the rink in December 2008.

Mrs Moore said: "We came here to get more young people into skating sports because we are so passionate about it, and the community has responded brilliantly.

"Each league team has to host an event and it was our turn on Sunday. Our teams are doing really well and improving all the time. The 'A' team was brilliant."

The Roller Village 'A' team stole the show, ending the day unbeaten after scoring 36 goals in four matches. They even inflicted a first loss of the season on league leaders King's Lynn and leapfrogged Norwich into second.

The 'B' team, however, are still getting accustomed to competitive life. They have lost all nine games this season, scoring 14 goals and conceding 106.

But Mr and Mrs Moore's commitment is already paying dividends.

Four of Roller Village's roller hockey players - Danny Read, Josh Webb, April Kitchen and Harry Southgate - have been called up to an England training camp after a visit from national coach Carlos Amaral.

There are also high hopes for a haul of trophies at the national speed skating championships in March, and at the under-8s national figure skating championships in April.

Mrs Moore added: "We are now hoping to become a centre of excellence. We hand over a large amount of time to sports training."

SUNDAY'S RESULTS

Roller Village A 16 Roller Village B 2

Cambridge 3 Norwich 6

Roller Village A 6 King's Lynn 5

Roller Village B 1 Cambridge 6

King's Lynn 7 Norwich 3

Roller Village A 6 Cambridge 6

Roller Village B 3 King's Lynn 7

Roller Village A 7 Norwich 3