MIDDLESBROUGH Football Club (MFC) has launched a ground-breaking initiative to link up with sports clubs in the Tees Valley area, encouraging youngsters to participate in badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball.

The scheme is part of Premier League 4 Sport, a £3.8m partnership between professional football clubs and the Government.

It will run for three years ahead of the 2012 Olympics in London. As part of the 2012 legacy plans, the Government has pledged to offer young people five hours of sport a week, and Middlesbrough hope to increase participation rates in the area.

The club has linked up with five community sports clubs – Redcar Judo Club, Marske and Middlesbrough volleyball clubs, Ormesby Table Tennis Club and Teesside Performance Centre for Badminton – and further clubs will be formed at primary and secondary schools in the region.

George Cooke, chairman of MFC in the Community, said: “Football clubs are in a privileged position because they are able to engage young people in a way that other organisations cannot. Hopefully, we can help get youngsters involved in a range of sports that might otherwise have passed them by.

“Rockliffe Park is hoping to be a training camp ahead of the 2012 Olympics, and it is important that we engage with Olympic activities in the build-up to the Games.

“This is a great opportunity to do that, and enables the football club to encourage and develop other sports through the medium of football.”

Judo clubs are being formed at Newcomen and Sacred Heart Schools in Redcar, Bydales School in Marske, and New Marske Primary School.

South Shields-born Sarah Clark relocated to Edinburgh to realise her ambition of competing in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and the British international is delighted that opportunities are being created in the North- East. She said: “This is a massive step forward for our sport. The hardest thing is getting kids to try judo in the first place. Once they’ve done that, they tend to love it and get involved.

“By setting up clubs, this scheme is giving more people a chance to experience our sport. It’s a great sport in terms of health and fitness, but also in terms of teaching children discipline. And it’s also cheap, easy and open to all.”