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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."
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