Robin Hood have strengthened their youth programme after securing the services of former Bermuda assistant coach Richard Todd.

Todd has joined the Premier Division champions’ youth set-up — aptly named the Warwick Archers, a nod to their affiliation with Warwick Academy — and will coach their under-13 team in the Bermuda Football Association Youth Leagues.

The former North Village and St George’s coach will link up with Dennis Brown, who oversees the Hood youth programme and coaches their under-15 side.

Joel Duffy, the Hood president, said he was thrilled to have two of the island’s most respected coaches charged with producing the club’s future first-team players.

He added that bringing in a coach of Todd’s calibre was another exciting development in Hood’s long-term plan to “build from the top down”.

“We’ve let Dennis Brown have free rein to do what he thinks needs to be done to make the programme as successful as possible,” Duffy said. “He’s actually the one who reached out to Richard, those two are very good friends and work really well together.

“Having seen them coaching together for the past month or so, they complement each other really well and I’m not sure the kids know how lucky they are [to be coached by Brown and Todd].”

Hood have made great strides since becoming full BFA members in 2009, when the Commercial League was scrapped in favour of an over-30 Masters League, winning the Friendship Trophy in 2015, the FA Cup in 2016 and the league title last season.

Duffy believes the next step in their evolution is to start developing home-grown first-team players.

“That’s one thing I noticed watching the Charity Cup against PHC [a 1-0 win for Zebras], just how young their team were,” Duffy said.

“It shows they have a very good youth system and we definitely hope to see a few of our youth-team players coming through to the first team in the next five or six years.

“That’s really the goal, to see kids come up through our programme, and hopefully through Dennis and Richard’s contacts we can get them off the island and into schools and then universities.

“If they come back to the island then hopefully they come back to play for Robin Hood.

“That’s the long-term goal, to make us sustainable, which is something you can see in other clubs.”

Hood, who have reached the semi-finals of the Dudley Eve Trophy, appointed John Barry Nusum as coach during the summer in the wake of Kyle Lightbourne’s resignation after leading them to a maiden title.

Duffy said it was testament to the environment created at Hood that coaches such as Nusum, Brown and Todd have been attracted to the club.

“I couldn’t really pinpoint how it’s all come to this,” said Duffy, who succeeded Derek Stapley as Hood president at the start of the 2015-16 season. “We’ve just tried to create an atmosphere and product that reflects where we aspire to be and people have got on board with that.”

Hood forged a relationship with Warwick Academy’s BFA club last season, which allows Warwick’s players to channel into the Premier Division side’s youth programme when they reach 13.

“The Warwick Academy BFA club, which is open to all kids, goes up to under-12 and the idea is that once they become too old for that they filter into our Warwick Archers team,” Duffy added.

“The idea is for us to offer a whole catalogue of youth teams from under-five all the way up to the Robin Hood first team.

“Although Warwick Academy and Robin Hood are two separate clubs you can look at them as essentially being one club.

“For example Mark Twite, the president of the Warwick Academy BFA programme, sits on the Hood executive committee.”

Hood have opted against entering a team in the Player Development League this season as so many of their under-23 players are involved in the first team.

The BFA Youth Leagues start on Saturday, with Hood keen to attract more under-13 players.