Energetic sports students have been showing that they know how to plough their efforts into a good cause.

Challenged with organising a charity fundraiser, the youngsters from Billingham’s SRC Bede Sixth Form put on a nonstop six-hours of sport.

With teams going head-to-head in a series of ball games, tutor Ste Cross said: “The group were responsible for coming up with the idea, planning the activities and running the event.”

Their efforts paid off as 35 students and even a team of teachers signed up for the full day of action.

Ste explained: “The task was part of an annual cross-college challenge where students have to come up with their own fundraising event.”

He said the competition can get pretty fierce with groups vying to raise the most cash.

Choosing to raise money for Dementia UK, the sports students opened up their event to fellow classmates with each team member paying a small fee to play.

Among the organisers, Sport Science student Callum McKinlay, 16, said: “We chose Dementia UK because a few people in the group have grandparents who are suffering.”

The continuous action on the day included the likes of volleyball, handball, dodgeball and basketball.

Sport Science student Brooke Slater, 16, said: “We wanted to do a sport-a-thon because we knew we would be fun and a good way to raise money for the charity.

“It was good for us to get a chance to play against a staff team and there was a bit of competition between students and staff, but we all enjoyed it.”