YOUNGSTERS in Darlington are being steered away from causing trouble on the streets in favour of taking up the sport of fencing.

The Street Swords team will be going into schools and youth clubs in the town to gauge interest in the activity before the first fencing club opens in July.

The project will target children aged 11 and over who are at risk of offending, in the hope the sport can challenge negative behaviour.

The Street Sword's team will train young leaders, sports coaches and youth workers and then send them out into target communities.

Beth Davidson, North-East regional fencing officer, said: "This is about building a local workforce who are already working with young people in deprived wards of Darlington.

"Those relationships are well-established and contribute to a fantastic expertise as sports coaches.

"This is about supporting young people and encouraging positive behaviour and it is about giving them the fencing skills to do it.

"We have organised some test groups and the young people seem to pick it up really quickly.

"You need to be very intelligent to fence and many of the young people who get into trouble are just bored and need an appropriate outlet.

"Fencing provides just that and we hope we can train them up to be coaches so they in turn can pass on their skills to the next generation in their area."

Six Street Sword coaches have now completed their first coaching course, despite four of them having never picked up a foil before.

The first club will open on July 26 at Eastbourne Sports Complex and people are invited to sign up there for the training programme.

Any schools or youth clubs who would like a visit from the Street Swords team, or for more information about the project, contact Beth Davidson at beth.davidson@northumbria.ac.uk