SCHOOL children from across Furness bounced into action in a fun-filled basketball tournament.

Seven teams took part in the Hoops festival, with the emphasis on participation rather than victory.

Holy Family Heat, Pennington Panthers, Sacred Heart Hawks, Penny Bridge Pandas, Dane Ghyll Demons, Low Furness Lions and Sir John Barrow Sharks contested the event, hoping to inspire youngsters into playing basketball in the long term.

The festival was targeted at children in Year 4 and 5, and teachers who wanted to get more of an idea of how to play the sport, with the aim of bringing additional entries to regional basketball competitions next year.

The festivities got under way with a big group warm-up, which required the players to dribble in a small area and work their way through to a basket where they had a shot and then passed their ball onto the next person.

After a quick discussion about the rules of the game, such as travelling and double dribbling, it was straight into a round-robin tournament.

Furness School Games organiser Oliver Carswell saw the festival as a great success.

He said: “As the festival had learning and fun at its core, no scores were kept, allowing the players and teachers to relax and enjoy themselves without the pressure of winning.

“The referees, who were members of the Barrow Thorns junior set-up, were fantastic with the players.

“Any time they blew their whistle, they explained to the child what they had done so they knew not to do it next time, which led to visible improvement from lots of the players over the course of the afternoon.

“We have to say a big thank you to Mike Bowker, from Holy Family, whose idea it was for the festival.”