MORE than a thousand young people will gather on Teesside this weekend for the biggest youth event in the area's sporting calendar.

The Teesside Sport Partnership Youth Games will see 1,100 able-bodied and disabled youngsters from Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Stockton and Redcar and Cleveland compete in eight sports at two locations.

The young people - aged between nine and 16 - are all involved in local squads, set up within the four areas, which have competed to get to this weekend's event.

The games, which are in their fourth year, are part of a national sports festival involving more than 100,000 young people and will be held between 11am and 3pm at Eston Sports Academy on Saturday and Acklam Sports Centre in Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Youth Games co-ordinator Di Covell said the idea of the games was to get as many young people as possible involved in different kinds of sports throughout the year regardless of the facilities or activities offered by their school.

"Development squads are set up by in each district and schools are told about it so they can tell pupils, who are invited along to training evenings," she said.

"They get to choose which sports they want to compete in and train all year.

"I think the games are really the biggest event of their kind on Teesside because it's a multi-sports event. The kids will get to play basketball, cricket, netball, rugby, swimming and tennis. Disabled youngsters, as well taking part in the swimming, will be offered the chance to play boccia, a kind of indoor bowls, and table cricket."

The majority of the funding for the games and the training - roughly £250,000 a year - comes from Sports Lottery, via Sport England. Chairman and football pundit Trevor Brooking said: "The Partnership Youth Games are now very well established and provide a really enjoyable and competitive outlet for our young sports men and women. The Teesside games will give the youngsters a real opportunity to showcase their skills and represent their local area."

Next year, the games are set to get even bigger with two full days of events and four new activities on offer. "The event just keeps growing and growing," said Ms Covell.