Streetball Extreme, a team of professional players who perform skills and dunks, showed off what they could do, which ranged from spinning the ball on their bodies to jumping over boys on bikes to slam dunk.

South West Suffolk School Sports Partnership (SWSSSP) and Haverhill Town Council ran the event, thanks to funding from Suffolk Youth Opportunity and Capital Funds, and plan to use more of the cash to set up a basketball club, with adult and youth teams, in the town.

“The streetball was brilliant, it was really fantastic,” said SWSSSP co-ordinator Keith Limon.

“There were a lot of spectators passing by and the Streetball Extreme Team gave it that wow factor because they were so good with what they could do with a basketball.”

A series of streetball (three-on-three basketball played into one basket) competitions were also held throughout the day with teams from as far away as Milton Keynes taking part.

That Milton Keynes team won the 18 and over event, a team from Leiston won the under 17s competition and a team from Castle Hill Middle School won the under 14s competition.

Nick Keeble, Haverhill Town Council’s arts and leisure manager, said: “It was certainly an opportunity for us to try something different and attract a younger audience to the festival as well, and it seemed to work.

“With Streetball Extreme it gave us a chance to make it into a spectacle and there was a chance for Haverhill kids to get contact with some talented professionals.

“It happened on the same day we had Greavesy (ex-England footballer Jimmy Greaves) here as well so it kind of became a sports day.”

n More pictures are available on our website, www. haverhillecho.com