Academy gives hope for future
By Matt McGeehan

Tuesday 23rd January 2007

EXCELLENCE, they say, is achieved through talent and application, which in turn open up opportunities.
Weymouth Football Club Junior Academy is a breeding ground for talented local players to achieve excellence. With the recent financial turmoil at the club, never has the academy been more important.

It has been in operation for two years, and the players are beginning to come through, with numerous county players now in the group.

Sixty players from the age of nine to 15 receive instruction from coaches with top European qualifications. The academy is split into three groups, with training twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

Former DCI of Weymouth police Alan Burt is the academy manager. "Our ambition is to improve local football - especially with these lads because this is the time to catch them, at this age," he said.

"We are trying to improve their performance. This is about technical development taking a child who has been recommended to us and hopefully improving his technical ability and making him a better player.

"Now our greatest ambition would be to see some of them turning out for Weymouth. It will be a feather in the cap of the junior academy but it also will be a great asset for Weymouth FC."

John Godbold is the senior coach of the academy. Godbold, sports master at Portland's Royal Manor Arts College, is a former player for Wimbledon and has the UEFA A standard coaching qualification. He is supported by Dave Court, a UEFA B coach, and Ian Bickerstaff, who plays for Dorchester under-18s and coaches the goalkeepers.

The academy has links with professional clubs throughout the south and west of England, including Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth and Bristol City, as well as the local teams.

"Within the Weymouth youth set up there are some 37 youth teams," added Burt, who is the president of the Dorset Premier League. "So straight away you have got all those players and not unreasonably their managers want to develop them so we get recommendations from them.

`As our reputation has grown we are starting to get recommendations from other teams - Chickerell, Portland, Dorchester. We have got lads coming down now from Sherborne, Bridport, Poole and from Blandford."

The players play for their clubs at week-ends, training with the academy during the week. The academy only play games during the school holidays to avoid conflict with clubs.

Burt added: "We are trying to improve these players as footballers so they will play at a better standard of football and hopefully play for Weymouth. But if they go on and play for Manchester United or Arsenal we won't stand in their way."

Godbold believes it is imperative that the academy is backed by the club. "This is our life blood," he said. "If the club gave us the support that we need, the sky is the limit."

At present the academy is self-financing, with parents and players paying for their twice-weekly sessions. Godbold, who played for Wimbledon between 1982 and 1984 in the formative years of the Crazy Gang, believes that with additional support Weymouth can progress into the Football League - like his former
club. The Wimbledon story, he says, "proves, with hard work and a positive attitude, what can be done - and that was all built on a positive attitude."

Godbold leads from the front with a direct approach reminiscent of Wimbledon in their heyday, shouting encouragement and instruction from the touch-line to his players. And he is cer-tain he will see the fruits of his labour in years to come.

"I always ask the question: who, from the local area, has played more than 50 games for the first team? As far as I can remember it is only Alex and Simon Browne. They are both in their early 30s. "I guarantee there are two or three who, if they carry on working as they are, are good enough. That is a position we haven't been in for a long time."