It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all involved with the Queen's Park Youths at the start of season 2011 / 2012. While these sections represent a significant investment by the Club, we recognise the huge amount of work and effort required by many individuals to put 8 teams on the park every week. The dedication of our coaches (who work on a voluntary basis), physiotherapy and medical staff plus of course the players themselves and their families who ensure that they turn up on time for training and for games, and the support that they give, is one of the major strengths of this Club.

Last season was a transitional one for our SFA Youth development squads, from under-11s to under 16/17s. The granting of Performance status by the SFA meant that each week our boys were being tested against players from other performance-level teams, many of them from premier league clubs, so the standards were much higher than we have previously faced. In addition, we needed to recruit extra qualified coaching staff, provide sports science input, and provide the boys with three coaching sessions per week. However there is no doubt that all the squads made significant progress during the season, and David McCallum, our Head of Youth, and our coaching staff firmly believe that this will all be to the boys' benefit in the long run.

Of our two SFL squads, our under-17s were third in their league and reached the final of the SFL league cup, losing only in extra time to a Livingston side that had a number of full-time players, and our under-19s finished sixth in their league.

Not that our efforts have not gone unnoticed. During last season three of our players were in the Victory Shield squad, and three others were in the Scottish Schools team which defeated England in May, including the captain, Alan Urquhart. For the second year in a row, a group of under-17s and under-19s plus coaching and backroom staff were funded by the Leonardo da Vinci Foundation of the European Community to travel abroad (this time to Turkey) for a fortnight's training, cultural visits and education.

The opportunities for players to progress are there as well. Every year players from our youth squads are given the opportunity to play for our reserve side, the strollers XI, and thereafter to progress to the first team. In the last few seasons it has not been uncommon for as many as 9 of the 16 first team players on a Saturday to have been products of our youth development system, and recent graduates who have signed for premier league clubs include Steven Saunders (Motherwell), who gained his first full Scotland cap last season, and Barry Douglas (Dundee United).

It is the Club's wish that parents and families of those involved in our Youths section consider becoming Associate Members of the Club. Details of this are available on the website or from the Club office.

Finally it is my hope that I will have the opportunity to meet as many of you as possible during the course of the season. Please accept my very best wishes for an enjoyable and successful 2011 / 2012.

Alan S. Hutchison
President