New club develops at Whiteley

THE Whiteley Oaks club is beginning to make a mark after being part of the scene in that fast growing corner of Hampshire for the past 2 years.

Set up in November 2000, the club aims to introduce the sport to new players and teach them the key skills required to become effective players.

Says chairman Paul Miller: "When we have players whom we believe are of a good standard, we will introduce them to the national league coaches at Solent and Southampton to assess their suitability for inclusion in their youth squads."

The club's mens team entered the Solent Area League in the season just ended and won Division 2 at the first attempt. The Under 14 boys team represented Fareham in the Hampshire Youth Games last month and reached the final of the event.

Whiteley's youth development programme (for 7 to 17 year olds) now has 60 players, among them eleven year old Lianne Miller, who represents the South of England at Under 13 level.

Says Paul: "We have provided equipment and regular coaching for four local primary schools and are looking to extend the programme to others.

"We're fully involved with the Hants and IoW active sports programme and have five qualified coaches with three more in training.

"We also provide mental fitness development to those interested through our website www.3d-people.com "What we're now looking for is more Under 12s to learn to play (especially girls); people who would be interested in refereeing, and an experienced big Centre for our men's team in the higher division next season."

The club will be running a summer camp for under 12s on August 5/6th at the local Meadowside Centre. It's a fun event which provides the chance to make new friends and costs £22.50 per child or £18.50 each for booking two players.

The men train every Friday at the Centre between 7-9 pm, with youth training every Saturday between 10-11 am for the Under 12s and from 11-12 noon for the Under 14s and Under17s.

The club will take a break from August 2nd and get back into action on September 13th.