And two of them - The Meteors from Lutterworth and Harborough Homeboiz - won through to the quarter-final stages of the 13-team tournament.

Homeboiz, representing Market Harborough Dodgeball Club, then tasted defeat at the hands of Derby Seahawks, losing by six players to three in the deciding fifth game, and The Meteors went down 3-1 to Tupton College A, from Derbyshire.

A second home team, Harborough Hurricanes, had clashed with The Meteors in the first round group stage. Both sides had previously won one and lost two matches, which meant the winners would qualify for the quarter-finals.

Hurricanes stormed through the first game, winning easily by four players to one, but The Meteors replied with 5-1 and 5-0 victories before Harborough levelled the match.

The Lutterworth club secured their place in the play-offs with a 2-1 win in the deciding fifth game, thanks to some outstanding play from John Willis and Josh Lowe.

Harborough Homeboiz won through to the play-offs from the 'Group of Death', so-called as Group C had no clear favourite. They started well, destroying Minotaur Dodgeball of Leicester by five games to nil, led by Alex Bridges with nine hits and Rupert Phillips with seven hits and three catches. They were then held to a 2-2 draw by Derby Seahawks' second team, lost 1-3 to Tupton College A but rallied to beat Tupton's B team 3-1 to claim their place in the play-offs.

There was a strong Leicestershire presence with one team from Hinckley - reigning British champions Jammy Dodgers - and three from Leicester - Leicester City Ligers, current UK No 1 ranked team, Minotaur Dodgeball and The Minotaurs.

Ligers won the event to finish 2009 top of the National Dodgeball Rankings. They beat Jammy Dodgers 4-1 in the best-of-seven game final. It was the second time in a month in which Ligers had got the better of their neighbours and the team's third tournament success in the first half of the current season. All the games were close but Ligers just had the edge in the first three, before Dodgers replied with a drawn game and a 6-0 win in game five, captain Ryan Knight making four hits in the one game. Leicester rallied again after the setback and won the sixth game by a commanding 5-2 margin.

The Harborough-based tournament was run by the UK Dodgeball Association.

Teams train weekly on Thursday evenings in Market Harborough and Lutterworth. For more details contact Nick Pinnock on 08456 199 975 or on nick@interdodgeball.co.uk.