ANY extra energy built up from their Easter egg stocks was quickly burned off as children enjoyed the school holidays football camp with Barrow AFC.

The club's community arm ran two weeks of activities at St Bernard's School, where youngsters aged between five and 11 were able to enjoy themselves and improve their skills.

Two groups – the youngest led by Jamie Hodgson and the older children coached one week by Brad Hubbold and the next by Marc McAloone – were engaged by a series of games and exercises designed for fun and learning.

Playing inside and out – with the variable holiday weather meaning the former option was often employed to ensure the children did not get wet and cold and spend the days shivering – there was a wide variety of activities going on.

The older kids – from Years 4, 5 and 6, as well as some of the more experienced Year 3 pupils – paid close attention as McAloone explained to them what they would be working on.

Under leaden grey skies, and with a spot of rain in the air, they took part in a passing and movement game, working on dribbling and distribution at the same time in a format similar to that used by AFC first-team boss Paul Cox with his Bluebirds squad at times.

The drills forced the children to think, as well as showing off their skills, the footballers realising there is no point in them being superb when they run past obstacles, only for their pass to roll to no-one as they failed to assess where their team-mates were.

While McAloone led the All Stars and Hot Shots outside, there was a cacophony of noise leaking out between the cracks in the door of the sports hall, where Hodgson had the Mini Squad enjoying themselves.

To the sounds of pop music echoing from the walls, these younger footballers were working on more basic skills, practising kicking the ball with both power and accuracy in a variation on dodgeball, where the ball must be kicked, rather than thrown, at opponents.

The noise levels were much greater than with the older kids – and not just from the speakers, as the youngsters screamed and shouted while they tried to land an accurate kick that saw the ball take out an opponent.

There was the sense of organised chaos, but Hodgson was keeping a close eye, making sure that the children were doing what they were supposed to and helping them out if they were struggling with any aspect of the games.

Anywhere between 30 and 40 children have enjoyed each day of the camp, which finishes tomorrow.

There will be further AFC Community coaching during the Whit Week and summer holidays.