Scheme sets sights on Olympic revival

The inaugural Great Britain Academy Challenge, which starts tomorrow at the Milton Keynes National Stadium and continues until Saturday's finals, is the result of inventive thinking following Britain's disappointing Olympic performances in Sydney and the recommendations that flowed from last year's debriefing of the players and managements.

The aim, to involve potential British Olympic players throughout the four-year Olympic cycle, is commendable even though that involvement is limited to the development of a junior players from the Scottish and Welsh Institutes and the English Regional Academies. The more established players will almost certainly be involved with their own national squads.

For the first time Scotland and Wales will be involved with initial Olympic preparations. The Welsh and Scottish Institutes will be faced with opposition from three English regional squads taken from across our Academies plus the England Under-21 squad preparing for the Junior World Cup. The English squads will be coached by Jason Lee, Dave Passmore and John Shaw.

The former Great Britain goalkeeper John Hurst is masterminding the operation, which, he stressed, is very much experimental at this stage but has the aim of providing an opportunity for young players to stake a claim for future Britain teams and ultimately the Olympic Games. Hurst said: "Frankly, we don't know at this stage what the standard will be but I hope it will be above the English Divisional Under-21 level so that it is seen as a next step up." It is planned to run a parallel women's event next year.