Hull FC last night officially opened the club’s brand new Youth Performance and Community Centre based next to the Sirius Academy, home of the club’s ground-breaking rugby league academy. The centre will provide an unrivalled base for the next generation of rugby league stars, as well housing a number of amateur clubs and community initiatives. The Pickering Road centre, which isn't shared with the first team but is dedicated purely to the club's youth sides, includes a state-of-the-art gymnasium, an indoor sports hall, a sand-based Astroturf pitch, a large field for skills drills and a fully floodlit playing surface, with guests at the official unveiling of the centre last night given a full tour of facilities. However, it is only the beginning for the facility, with the Black and Whites committed to exploring further development in the near future as part of a 25-year lease of the premises from Hull City Council, with possible proposals set to include the introduction of a show pitch complete with stand to allow the club to host under-20s and under-18s matches at the venue, as well as further enhancing the extensive community work that is already taking place there. Hull FC owner Adam Pearson said, “Identifying more talented home-grown players and giving them the facilities and environment to progress into the first team has become one of the most important issues facing the club since I took over. “Our youth facilities really were in desperate need of attention, but the opening of the Youth Performance and Community Centre is a clear sign that we are progressing in this regard. “The YPC presents us with a fantastic opportunity to attract the best young talent to this club and then provide them with everything they need to help them reach their potential. “It is a signal of our intent to enhance our junior pathways and develop Super League stars of the future, but they key for us is that the opening of the facilities is not the end of our plans, it is only the beginning.” Designed and maintained along lines of the club’s Elite Performance Centre in Chanterlands Avenue, the training base of the first team squad, the new facilities have been described by Hull FC’s Director of Rugby, Shaun McRae, as comparable with many of the youth facilities used by Australian clubs in the NRL. With huge attention to detail placed on ensuring every aspect of the facility encourages the club’s emerging young talent to reach their potential, including a wide range of club branding featuring Hull FC stars who have come through the academy into the first team, the facilities are seen as integral to the club’s plans to place a greater emphasis on developing more homegrown players. However, the Youth Performance and Community Centre is not only an exciting opportunity for the club’s youth development programmes, it is also providing a bright future for community engagement in the city. Now the base of the hugely successful Hull FC Foundation, the first Super League foundation to receive Clubmark Gold status, it will see a number of community projects based at the centre, with recent examples including the club’s half-term holiday camp for local schoolchildren and a one-week course designed to help a variety of residents from across the city who are not in education, employment or training. As well as housing the Foundation staff and Rachel Gay, the club’s Director of Rugby who oversees Hull FC’s partnership with Sirius Academy, the new facility will also be available to members of the local community as part of the agreement with Hull City Council. Used by a wide variety of youth clubs and services, the centre is also operating at close to full capacity and houses a wide variety of sports, including football, touch rugby and an ice-hockey scholarship with local club Hull Stingrays. A spokesman for Hull City Council said: “Our partnership with Hull FC Community Foundation demonstrates the council’s on-going commitment to working with the professional sports clubs in Hull, using the power of sport to raise aspirations, remove barriers and engage communities in positive activities. “This facility will enable Hull FC to provide quality opportunities for local people to engage with the club through education, sport and health programmes and provides top class facilities for local clubs and groups. “The council is looking forward to working in partnership with Hull FC to make the facility a place where professional athletes and community groups work alongside each other, using the power of sport to improve the lives of local people.” Meanwhile, Rugby League Service Area Co-ordinator for Hull, Lora Webster, said, “This really is a facility that the sport of rugby league can be proud of. “We place a big emphasis on attracting more young people to rugby league and I’m sure the Youth Performance and Community Centre will become a facility that inspires the next generation of Super League stars and sporting role models. “I’m sure it will prove to be hugely beneficial to a wide variety of people in the local community and used by numerous sports to engage people of all ages in sport. Credit must go to all involved for bringing this plan to fruition. “From a service area perspective, we are really excited about the impact this new facility will have and we intend to utilise it in a number of ways to increase participation and involvement in rugby league.”