FOOTBALLERS have been lacing up their boots and stepping out on the field for five days of coaching from Barrow AFC during half-term.

The youngsters, aged between five and 11, are enjoying a week of coaching from the Bluebirds' Community arm at St Bernard's School.

Using the school fields – and the indoor sports hall when the February weather has turned particularly cold, wet or windy – keen players have developed their game with the team of coaches.

Their happy shouts could be heard from across the school grounds as they got down to business with AFC's Marc McAloone, Jamie Hodgson, Brad Hubbold and Matty Taylor.

Rushing quickly about the school grounds with smiles on their faces and brightly coloured bibs making them stand out in the late-winter gloom, they have been spilt into three groups depending on ages.

The five to seven-year-old Mini Squad work with Hodgson, with Hubbold leading the All Stars – aged eight and nine – and McAloone in charge of the Hot Shots, aged 10 and 11.

McAloone has been pleased to have near-full-houses every day – with an average of around 45 children taking advantage of the half-term activities.

He said: “We've been outside as much as we can, but we had to come inside on Tuesday afternoon because of the weather.

“Jamie has had the younger group and he has been doing loads of technical work, lots of touches on the ball, trying to understand what touches to take when, how to dribble, how to turn. It's really technical and basic.

“Brad has been very similar with his group, but he has been able to make it a little bit more complex in terms of the games.

“With the Hot Shots, I've been looking at moves to beat players, so can they use their bodies to drop the shoulder and use feints to move past people? Then, once we've looked at how they use their bodies to get past people, we'll start to introduce skills such as scissors to beat an opponent, then using their bodies to protect. It's the understanding of how to beat a player, what to do before and what to do after.

“Over the next few days, hopefully we'll play foot golf if the weather is not too bad and look at striking the ball in different ways.”