Interest in NERF fun has erupted, with hopes for a nationwide school competition.

Active Future (AF), a sports organisation, is aiming to halt the alarming trend that shows 80 per cent of children quit sports by the time that they reach the age of 16.

Employing both traditional and unconventional methods, AF's ambition is to give people a lifelong love of sport and movement, stopping the exodus and tempting people back.

Before the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, they ran a national NERF competition, which was sponsored by NERF, establishing connections with over 20,000 children and young people.

Of those children, more than a quarter of them had disabilities that would have precluded them from participation in standard competitive sports.

AF discovered that by using NERF, a game where players shoot soft-tipped darts at each other, they can engage all children, regardless of their athletic abilities, with meaningful movement.

Currently working with hundreds of schools nationwide, AF is trying to organise a national NERF school competition.

Because of this, they are trying to run some NERF clubs.

Trialled in the west of the county, AF have been left 'astonished' with well over 100 expressions of interest submitted.

They are now looking to run clubs in Corbridge, Hexham, and Prudhoe.

AF are trialling these clubs right across the UK, with hopes of motivating thousands of youngsters to be more active.