Ulverston Leisure Centre began hosting girls' football sessions last Friday evening and active communities coordinator Hannah Paling believes they will be a great way of boosting their confidence.

The sessions will be running for an initial period of four weeks at 5pm every Friday, up until October 18, although the Centre are planning to extend this from half-term until Christmas if, as expected, they turn out to be successful.

At present, they are open for girls aged 5-11, but if they attract enough numbers the intention is to introduce a session for 5-7-year-olds and one for 8-11-year-olds as it's believed this format will be more beneficial to those involved.

The sessions come after multi-sport training, which was also brought in last week.

Paling, a footballer herself with Morecambe Ladies, said: "We had about eight girls down for the first one, so that was really good.

"I knew a couple of them anyway because they've come to a couple of other things and I've sent out some information to a couple of the schools, so they've obviously got some interest through that as well.

"I know there's not too much that goes on around here for the girls' football - obviously Ulverston Rangers run a session during the week, but that's a team, whereas this is kind of just practicing.

"It was good and the girls seemed to enjoy it because they were just playing with other girls. A lot of the time in PE and other competitions it's girls and boys and the girls may feel a little bit outshone. When it's just the girls, I think they gain a bit more confidence and they seem to enjoy it much more."

Looking further ahead into the month, half-term activities are now bookable at the Leisure Centre, which includes 30-minute intensive training sessions from October 21-23, which will cost £6.40 at the time of booking.

Stage One sessions will start at 9:30am and progress into higher stages throughout the morning, which run all the way up to stage 6/7 at 10:30am on the Wednesday.

At the Tennis Centre, activity days will be running on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for ages five and over from 8:45am until 3:30pm, at a cost of £15 a day.

Paling said: “Due to many requests we are trialling a longer day ,we are sure it will be welcomed by parents, as it’s the same length as a school day, therefore marking childcare during the holidays easier for working parents.

The day will be structured a little differently for the children to make sure they don’t become bored or over tired."