Local Premier Division side PHC have struck a deal with the English Premiership’s Reading FC.

The UK club have agreed to send two youth coaches to Bermuda during the April Easter school break to conduct a multi-purpose four-day football camp designed to expose local youngsters to training in a professional setting.

And should any of the players meet specific requirements singled out during the camp they will be invited to travel to the UK over the summer to attend Reading’s own youth football academy.

The camp is to take place at Spice Valley Middle School in Warwick from April 9 to 13, with organisers looking to accommodate a maximum of 150 players between the ages of five and 18.

Registration will take place for all members of PHC on January 6 and 13 at Spice Valley, while non-club members, providing space is available, will be allowed to register at the same venue from January 20 to the 27.

“Reading have a programme called ‘football in the community’ where they send coaches out to grass roots programmes, basically scouting players for their own academies,” explained PHC sports director Mark Wade.

The former Zebras coach hopes the new relationship between the two clubs will be long-term.

“This is something we at PHC have been trying to establish for a long time,” Wade added.

“Basically we are trying to establish two things for our players. One is obviously the scholastic path where we are trying to get as many players into colleges as best we can. We don’t have a direct relationship with a college, but we do have our own scholarship programme.”

The other goal officials at PHC hope to achieve through the initiative is to establish avenues to help get their members into football academies or professional teams.

Wade thanked Spice Valley for allowing his club use of their Warwick facilities for the camp which has so far been met by a positive response from the community.

“Spice Valley have given us permission to use their classrooms, gym and field and so we have everything we need to facilitate the camp,” Wade added.

Reading have yet to name which coaches will be coming to the Island, but Wade confirmed yesterday that the UK club would be sending two coaches to oversee the initiative, which is being sponsored by Arnold’s Tile.

“Arnold’s are our community partners, and as such, fully endorse the camp. The primary aim of the camp is to try and give the kids some exposure to coaches who are used to preparing kids for a professional environment,” said Wade.

“Obviously we prepare our kids here geared towards the amateur game versus coaches who operate academies for the professional game. So this opportunity will provide the kids with some different exposure because Reading are an up and coming club in the UK and we are very fortunate to be able to work in conjunction with them.”

Reading are the former club of Bermudian striker Shaun Goater who gave the initiative a ringing endorsement.

“I think this is a brilliant idea,” Goater told The Royal Gazette. “The more we can get our players exposed to professional clubs the better it will be for the standard of football in Bermuda, which is currently low. And I think it’s great to see Reading now connected with a local team.”