POPPLETON Ousebank Primary School clinched hoop dreams after they won the Oaklands School Sports Partnership High 5' netball fnals.

Primary school teams from St Aelred's, Poppleton Ousebank, Dringhouses, Copmanthorpe and Rufforth took part in the event hosted at York Railway Institute courts after each of the five schools had negotiated their respective cluster qualifying tournaments.

The finals night was a round-robin event with each team playing four games, the winners being the team with the most wins.

Each match was extremely competitive with games going to the final seconds before a winner was decided, but in the end Poppleton Ousebank finished on top, thanks to a high-scoring percentage when in possession and great defence. They will now go on to represent the partnership and the city at the annual Youth Games, held at Ampleforth College, Ryedale.

High 5 netball is designed to give young people the chance to learn the core skills of throwing, catching and movement, using a variation of netball as the context of the game.

Pressure is reduced on the players as they have longer with the ball and they are not challenged by opponents, and more space is created by having less players on the court.

As the name suggests, this format of the game is played in teams of five. Each player rotates to a different position throughout the tournament, so they all get a chance to shoot as well as defend.

The other big difference is that teams are mixed, with up to three boys allowed to play on a team at any one time.

The School Sport Partnership has six families (clusters) based around each of the secondary schools and their feeder primaries.

The High 5 festival forms part of the Festival Programme run by the Partnership throughout the year.

Each cluster tournament is organised and run by Junior Sports Leaders from the host secondary school, and up to 50 junior leaders have been involved in the netball alone.

Said Partnership manager Andy Pope: "Leadership is a huge outcome of the work we do, and giving young people the skills and confidence to organise tournaments such as this, empowers them to set a positive example within their own peer group and community.

"It is great to see young people being active with smiles on their faces, enjoying the competition and proud to represent their school."