Sheppey United are Southern Counties East Football League under-23 Development League champions for 2022/23 – Youth chairman Gary Seamark takes delight in club’s progress

Sheppey United are the inaugural winners of the Southern Counties East Development League - but trophies are only the icing on the cake for youth chairman Gary Seamark.

It’s eight years on from Mr Seamark’s decision to join his local club and start up an under-13 team. He now heads up a thriving youth section where the key aim is to give aspiring footballers a clear pathway to the Sheppey first team and potentially beyond.

A handful of youth players have featured for Sheppey’s Isthmian League side this season, including Bailey Catherick, who was part of that first under-13 side. Winning the Development League is a bonus for the Ites, who also saw their under-18 team make the Kent Cup final.

Mr Seamark said: “It is all about the development of the players. If there are trophies and cups that come with it then so be it, but that is not the aim.

“The aim is to provide those players with a position that when they finish with us at under-18 they are not going to just leave the club. We continue to offer a pathway for players to develop within their own club.

“We were lucky that we had (coaches) Ross Wiles and Simon Beard who were already coaching our under-18s. They wanted to take on the under-23s as well because it made sense.

“They knew which players were ready for the 23s physically, but also in ability, then that was working well. Jack (Midson, first team manager) and Jono (Richardson, assistant) were looking for an extra bit of support with training and they got involved with the first team as well.

“When I came to the club there was no youth structure, there was no youth team, that was eight years ago. I put an under-13 team into the Kent Youth League and half of the players were actually a year too young.

“To now see