Chasing the ‘unpolished diamonds’
Steve Ellis is relishing the ‘big challenge’ of growing the Fleetlands Youth Development Centre.
He took up the role at the Hampshire Premier League club less than a year ago, having previously worked as Gosport Borough’s academy manager during Fleetlands chairman’s Iain Sellstrom’s, below, time at Privett Park.
Prior to lockdown, the Coptermen had been running teams at under-10, under-11, under-12 and under-14 in the High Performance League, a Hampshire FA-affiliated competition.
‘It’s a really good league, and it’s getting stronger and stronger,’ said Ellis.
‘The great thing about it is that it focuses solely on development.
‘Players can play a year up or a year down, you don’t get that in normal grassroots football.
‘The games are every other Saturday which means for the kids they can play in the HPL one week and then play with their friends in the Mid Solent or Portsmouth Youth Leagues the other week - it gives them a great balance.
‘Before lockdown, we were also training twice a week - 90-minute sessions - at St Vincent School.’
Fleetlands are planning to welcome three new sides at under-10, under-12 and under-15 level for 2020/21 - teams who are currently playing in the Mid-Solent Youth and Portsmouth Youth Leagues under a different name.
Ellis is also aiming to add teams at under-17 and under-18 level next season with a view to supporting reserve team boss Steve King.
‘It’s a big challenge and it will be a lot of hard work, but we need to add more teams to help support the reserves,’ said Ellis.
‘I know there’s a lot of unpolished diamonds out there we could get.
‘We need to put in place a structure where players know if they do well they can progress.
‘We’re in a good position, bang in the middle of Gosport and Fareham. That will hopefully give us a bigger pool to fish from.
‘It will come down to what we do on the training pitch, we need to set standards that ensure players will want to come to us.
‘We have achieved a lot in under 12 months. We will be in a good place when we start next season the foundations will have been laid.
‘The plan is to grow the youth section. We want players from under-7 to under-18 levels to come and join us.
‘We’d also love to hear from any coaches, from any dad who wants to bring his child over.
‘We want all our volunteers to grow with us, to build the brand.’
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Former Hampshire golf skipper
Martin Young ‘would love to see Justin Rose back to his best’ in Florida this week.
The reigning Olympic champion tees off today at The Concession
Club looking for his third World Golf Championship victory in the Workday Championship.
Rose’s first WGC win also came at Doral in 2012, a year before his famous US Open win at Merion and six years after he was crowned European No. 1.
His second came in the 2017 WGC-HSBC Championship, in Shanghai.
In 2013 Rose became the first British winner of the US Open since Tony Jacklin back in 1970 – just nine months after that famous Concession by Nicklaus.
So with his Jacklin connection,
The Concession would be the perfect place for former Florida resident
Rose to bloom once more.
Rose, who has a base in The Bahamas but has moved his family back to the UK over the winter, is currently No. 35 in the official world rankings.
He spent 13 weeks ranked No. 1 between September 2018 and April 2019.
Young said: ‘Obviously as a Hampshire golfer I want to see Justin Rose play well this week, after a quiet spell for him.’
Rose, who was a teenager in the Hampshire team that won the English County Championship in 1996 – 21 years later before Young skippered the county to another title - has been a big supporter of the county’s amateur team.
Young revealed: ‘Rosey always thinks of us, and is proud of his Hampshire roots.
‘We get good luck messages and tweets and little inspirational videos from him before our big events – and he was delighted to meet us all and see us with the trophy after our win at Trevose in 2017.
‘I would love to see him back to his best and produce a big week at The Concesssion.’
With putting and performance around the greens key at The Concession, it is not surprising
Young expects to see Jordan Spieth and defending champion Patrick Reed in contention for the WGC crown.
The three-time Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Champion said: ‘I can see -12 being a winning score, which is not exceptional.
‘But because of the importance of the short game, I would not be surprised to see Spieth, or Reed, being in the mix at the death.
‘Depending on where they decide to put the pins, that will determine what the winning score will be.’
Having competed at the highest levels in the amateur game for some 30 years – he was the oldest member of the England A squad as a 30-year-old – Young has little time for Reed, dubbed ‘Captain America’ after whipping up the crowds on his Ryder Cup debut in 2016.