THIS basketball team was set up by a bunch of slam-dunking Lancaster 14-year-olds just three months ago.

And the pupils from Our Lady's High School have come a long way since their first game. Now the they're looking for a home ground and a sponsor.

Darren Senior, who started the team - the Lancaster Lions - with his friend Carlo, explains: "We were absolutely hammered in the first game. Once they were beating us by 50 points we all stopped counting. But we played them again last week and we just got beat by a single point right at the end of the game. We were really gutted to lose but it shows how much we've progressed."

Darren and the lads will join the Lancaster District Basketball League in September - up to now they've only played friendlies.

But why are the youth of Lancaster and Morecambe playing basketball instead of football and cricket these days?

Darren explained: "For us it was because we play basketball at school. It's very fast and you get totally into it. All the team come from all over Lancaster, in fact we are quite far apart. But it's worth it because we are friends and it gives us a chance to meet each other as well as playing the game. There must be others like us because there's the league. If we could have a sponsor or anything like that it would be great because we could have our own kit. We're totally committed to it and we are improving all the time so it wouldn't be wasted."

Proud mum Tracy Senior added: "The officials and representatives of the Lancashire League who have all been amazed that all the organising and planning has been done by a fourteen year old boy and have realised the commitment and been very encouraging. The boys saved hard to buy their own basketball kits. Even after their first big defeat they were not downhearted and show signs of recording a first victory. They really deserve support."

Contact Darren on 07957 141917 if you can help him and his basketball crazy schoolmates.

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