Bucks-based charity Sports Junction™ is giving local youngsters aged 12-18 the opportunity to shape their future in sport.

The London 2012 Games looms ever nearer and home grown athletes are needed, but the trick is to get yourself into a programme geared up to taking you to that level.

Whether you are already a budding gymnast or just fancy trying your hand at a sport, the Bucks Festival of Sports in conjunction with Sports Junction™ can start you on the right road.

Being held in August at a number of locations across the county, the festival includes includes everything from athletics, aquatics and badminton to shooting, taekwondo and volleyball. There are 18 sports in all, plus the facility for Paralympics.

Schools in the region have been asked to give out the information and the initial registration has already brought in a huge response.

To take part, log onto: www.sportsjunction.org/bfs. Or if you want to look at the site and just see what's going on, go to www.sportsjunction.org

Sports Junction's aim is to see at least one million more children and young adults taking part in sports by 2012.

The immense communications power of the internet is something that the two Bucks-based founders of Sports Junction, Mike Price and Denville Reed, came to terms with immediately, basing their work around this medium to target their audience.

Mike Price said: "This is a great chance for us to really engage youngsters in an environment they recognise.

"Getting the message about sports to young people is one thing, getting them to actively engage with it is another.

"We are determined that sports become a real future for many of them, who may not otherwise have considered it."

The website engages coaches, parents, schools, sports clubs, local authorities and all interested parties in the region as a means of linking them all together, with the website as the central hub. The eventual 'drivers' of the site will be the participants.

Support for the charity has come thick and fast, both because of the aims and because of the technology involved. Bucks County Council, Bucks Sport and BT have been keen from the outset and have become strong supporters, joined recently by Sport England.

In addition to the very practical results of stimulating increased awareness of the positive values of sport for young people, the project will produce real numbers of participants in the Bucks region, giving the county council effective and useable information.

Both long and short term benefits are envisaged with relevant stakeholder groups being able to better manage and develop participant activity such as club membership and coaching support.

The list of sports, locations and dates are for the Bucks Festival of Sport: Aquatics, High Wycombe 02/08/08; Athletics, Milton Keynes 23/08/08, Badminton, High Wycombe & Aylesbury 20,29/08/08; Basketball, Aylesbury 13,20,27/08/08; Boxing, Milton Keynes 27/08/08, Canoeing, South Bucks & MK 19/08/08,Cycling, Milton Keynes 26 - 29/08/08, Fencing, Milton Keynes 4,5/08/08, Girl's Football, Chesham, Chalfont & Risborough 1,4,13/08/08, Gymnastics, Milton Keynes 22/08/08, Hockey, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes 30/08/08, Judo, Amersham & Aylesbury 14/08/08 Paralympics, Stoke Mandeville, Rowing, Marlow & Milton Keynes 18,19/08/08, Sailing, Marlow & Milton Keynes 19/08/08, Shooting, Marlow 22/08/08, Taekwondo, Four locations 15/08/08, Tennis, Gerrards X & Burnham 21/08/08, Volleyball, Stoke Mandeville 25/08/08.