Ely Vikings Korfball Club is building a reputation for producing some talented young korfball players, including five who have been selected to play for England.

The club is very proud that, for the past few months, six of their first-team players have been training with about 40 korfballers from around England as part of the England Korfball Academy Programme for Youth Development & Performance.

These same six have all represented Cambridgeshire in regional competitions and are part of the Ely Vikings Southeast Regional (SERL) team, which involved much commitment travelling to London, Kent and Norwich to play against top level teams.

Amazingly, five of the six korfballers all came from Ely St Johns Primary School.

They began their korfball journey in the junior section of the club when they were just seven-years-old.

They were inspired to play korfball after Vikings coach Chris Brown gave a series of taster sessions at St Johns Primary school.

After this, they began to train with Ely Vikings Juniors and later progressed to the senior section of the club where Chris continued to coach them.

Since then, they have been regulars for the Vikings 1st team playing in the Cambridgeshire Korfball Association league 1 and have had a brilliant season, finishing third, winning 10 matches and scoring 243 goals.

This Vikings team also play in the South East Regional League where they have competed against teams from Norwich, Kent and London.

Through hard work and perseverance playing korfball, five Ely Vikings players have been selected to play for England.

This means that Ely Vikings Korfball club currently has more players in the U17 national squad than any other korfball club in England.

Dana Fraser and Josh Ford played for England in the Under 19 World Korfball Championship in Ghent in April and more recently were selected again to take part in a series of international matches and training sessions in Catalonia on July 1 and 2.

This has been a fantastic opportunity for international development and experience.

Madison Ford, Elena Fraser and Sam Oakhill were selected for the U17s England squad and played in the U17s World Cup in Eindhoven on July 1 and 2.

England finished a creditable seventh overall, losing two close matches by a single goal.

All of these young players have balanced korfball with their education, family and social life and are an inspiration to many people who would like to follow in their footsteps.

Korfball is the only team sport designed to be played by mixed teams. Each team consists of four male and four female players and working together as a team is fundamental to success.

The nature of the sport means that it is safe for suitably skilled 13 to 14-year-olds to play with and against adults.

Our club caters for players from the ages of seven up to 70. We are based at the Hive, where we train on Monday evenings, 6-7pm during term time for juniors and 7-9pm for seniors.

For more information visit www.elyvikings.com or Instagram and Facebook.