THIS past week Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) have been running free community sports sessions around different venues in Waltham Forest as part of their half-term holiday activities for youngsters in the borough.

Yesterday saw NFL Flag Football, cricket and football take place at Draper's Field off Leyton High Road with over 100 youngsters taking part in the sports on offer.

"I've got a passion for cricket so wherever it is I will go," explained participant Hamjarana, 16.

"Sometimes it can be difficult to get a game in Waltham Forest as there are not many cricket grounds to play at."

"We started off playing on the streets," added 15-year-old bowler Bilal who bases his bowling speed on Australian Brett Lee and accuracy on fellow Australian Glenn McGrath. "We then heard about the Cricket sessions at Score and the coach here approached us and asked us to play in these sessions."

"We've been playing eight-a-side cricket here today, but we lost as we didn't bat that well," said Hamjaran, whose idol is Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar.

"Our bowling and fielding was ok, but on the day our opponents were better than us - next time we will beat them!"

"We won because of good team work and we worked hard," interrupted Jenaid, 15. "We hope to bring some more friends down next time as they all would be interested in it."

Alongside cricket LOCSP have been developing and promoting NFL Flag Football in the borough through Development Officers Paul Motion and Shamajul Motin.

Draper's Field saw over 50 young people participating in the sport, learning the rules and skills such as passing, receiving, 'tackling' - snatching the 'flag' tied to the waist and the different type of runs a receiver can make before taking part in a small-side game.

"We tried Flag Football here for the first time back in February and it was a great success," enthused Paul. "A lot of the young people who were at that session came again to this one, but brought a friend - so the whole thing is expanding.

"They really pick it up quickly and we are looking at expanding our Flag Football sessions to a wider audience."

For more information about LOCSP please contact the office on 020 8556 5973 or email enquiries@locsp.org