THE end of the Easter school holiday saw 36 teams consisting of over 200 players from six London boroughs compete at Score, Leyton for the 2008 Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) Inter-Borough 5-a-Side title (U14s & U18s). The teams were picked from the free sessions and competitions that LOCSP run regularly in the boroughs of Waltham Forest, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Barking & Dagenham, Redbridge and Hackney.

With the support of Connaught, Hackney Homes, Metropolitan Police and the government-funded Kickz initiative the finals were a resounding success with the Custom House Boys winning the U18s title, Forest Gate Youth Centre winning the 'Fair Play' title and Waltham Forest side 'SH' winning the U14s title.

"I am playing here today to keep out of roads and to keep out of trouble," said Gosling, 15, from U18s winning side Custom House Boys."We came here today with a good reputation and won all six of our games.We now have the best reputation here and look forward to winning the next one.We can adapt our style to beat anyone!"

For Brian Levy and Ron Bryan from Connaught, the finals are a great way of seeing the local communities they work in benefit from their work.

"We have seen a fantastic group of people here today," enthused Brian, Connaught Client Services Manager. "The youngsters here have been participating individually and as teams and everything about it has been good natured and very, very positive.

"Connaught has been helping to fund and support the Kickz project since November 2006 and have followed it very closely. We wanted to get more involved with it, rather than just funding it - we like to get involved with the communities we work with and give something back."

For Ron Bryan, Connaught North East Hackney Project Manager seeing the youngsters compete brought back memories of his childhood. "I grew up on a council estate in Tower Hamlets, so know where these youngsters have come from," he explained.

"In my day we had a lot more facilities and opportunities to get involved with and seeing the youngsters here today at this superb venue and with the excellent coaches has really impressed me."

The inter-borough tournament is organised and delivered by LOCSP Community Development Officer Paul Motion, who had his hands full but was a happy man, come the trophy presentation.

"Today we have seen the culmination of a lot of hard work from our coaches in the six boroughs LOCSP work in," he explained."Some of the youngsters here today have come from Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham and the Isle of Dogs, so it has been a massive undertaking.

"All the hard work was worth it though as we had young people of all ages and backgrounds mixing together for the afternoon without any trouble whatsoever.

"We are all proud of everyone that has been involved in this and look forward to the next one!"

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