Springboard to stardom

Charlton's community scheme is renowned for many things, but not many people associate the club's award-wining initiative with producing young talent.

The scheme's pioneering work touches everything from the local community to some of the most deprived areas of South Africa.

But it can also act as a springboard to football stardom, as has recently been proved by two of the club's most promising young talents.

Second-year scholar Grant Basey and first-year scholar Harry Arter have just signed their first professional contracts with the club.

And the Addicks' community scheme can take some of the credit for their emergence as both players took their first steps on football's ladder via the project's ever-popular coaching courses almost a decade ago.

First spotted on the fun sessions, they were invited to attend the scheme's advanced centres, which were set up specially so the cream of the crop could benefit from more extensive coaching under the watchful eye of Addicks scouts.

"It's great news for the community scheme that Grant and Harry have been given pro deals, and for our advanced coaching centres in particular," said community scheme manager Jason Morgan.

"In my eyes too few clubs see the full potential of using a community scheme that sees hundreds of thousands of youngsters every year - we're effectively the club's biggest scout of youth football."

Morgan was quick to recognise the value of the scheme's coaching courses and, around a decade ago, helped establish the advanced centres alongside the club's management set-up.

Jason continued: "The key difference in our approach is that, in conjunction with Les Reed when he was first-team coach at the club in the late 1990s, we set up the advanced centres so we had a place to which we could recommend talented youngsters.

"Of course if they continued to develop there then they could be recommended into the academy itself."

A brief examination of the current academy ranks shows it is a project that has prospered, with Basey and Arter not the only graduates of Charlton's two advanced centres.

Current scholars Chris Saunders and Scott Wagstaff have come through the community scheme ranks, as have Sam Long and Callum Christie - both of whom will start full-time scholarships next season.

"It all seems a long time ago we started with two advanced centres at Hextable School and Leigh City Technical College, in Dartford," recalled Jason, who has since seen those venues switch to Sparrows Lane and Swadelands School in Maidstone.

"But it was always going to be a long-term project. At the time, when our coaches saw talented players they had nowhere to recommend them to, which was why the advanced centres were born.

Grant Basey

"Grant was on a football course when he was spotted, and he was initially coached at Hextable by myself, [future Charlton overseas co-ordinator] Jeff Vetere, Mark Robson and Colin Walsh.

"Harry was there as well, and they were among the first group of kids that went into the academy from the advanced centres."

Eighteen-year-old left-back Basey, who recently celebrated signing a one-year professional deal with the club, added: "I think I was about seven when I went on my first community scheme course.

"I remember it was on pitch five at Sparrows Lane, and nobody saw it as a trial or anything like that, it was just fun football.

"My nan and granddad took me and afterwards they told me that I had been invited to train at an advanced centre a couple of nights a week."

"It's a good way to come through because the emphasis is initially on fun, but if you show potential you can still get on at the club."

For details of the community scheme's next football courses which start on May 29th, and an application form, click here.