TORQUAY United are looking to expand their youth recruitment operation by setting up their first Development Centre in Cornwall, based at Truro College.

The Gulls' youth department is looking to have four development centres set up in the South West to give them the best possible chance of finding promising youngsters.

Already there is a centre set up in Dawlish that feeds the club's centre of excellence with players, and the Truro centre will be operating with the same goal.

To get the centre up and running, the club will be holding trials for children from the age groups Under 7 right through to Under 15. The trials will be arranged on a day that means they will not interfere with the players' club side commitments, and once the centre is up and running any fixtures played will be arranged in a similar fashion so that club commitments are not affected.

The aim of the centre is to recruit players who show good potential and, with the right coaching, will reach the standard required to graduate from the club's development centre to the centre of excellence. The development centres are run in a way that mirrors the running of a centre of excellence as closely as possible, with players exposed to high levels of coaching and game play to aid their development. The centre will solely look to feed Torquay United's centre of excellence.

Chief executive Colin Lee Torquay United said: "There is nothing down in the Cornwall area associated with the club at the moment, but we have still managed to pick up some promising youngsters, most notably Saul Halpin, from that part of the world.

"Hopefully this new centre will be good for both us and the local community.'

"We see the new centres as an important part of the club's future as we look to go forward and keep expanding the club's youth recruitment.

"Obviously this new centre is going to be in a good area on an excellent facility, and it is something new for the area and will hopefully be very productive.

"It offers young, promising players an opportunity to see if they can get involved with a professional club, which is often the aim when young kids start playing.

"We are now see ourselves (Torquay United) as competing with other clubs for players, and we feel that if we do things properly we can attract the best talent and hopefully find unnoticed players who would not have come on to our radar if it was not for these centres.

"This should give the chance for young players to fulfil their potential."

Torquay's head of recruitment Stuart Henderson added: "I'm delighted to be appointed to a club where, through my recommendations, a number of players have now signed schoolboy contracts."