UPGRADING the standard of equipment and coaching and setting up a girls' team are the aims of Okehampton Argyle Youth Football Club if its bid to lottery funding is successful.
The club, which has 150 members, has applied for £2,500 from the 'Awards for All' scheme.
At £700 a time to put individuals through a Football Association coaching licence course, it is not cheap so the club needs assistance.
Club secretary John Pearce said: 'We want to put our team managers and coaches through at least the first stage of the course and a couple through the second stage.
'If we can secure this money it will encourage individuals to go for it and we can improve the standards for the kids.'
Girls have shown quite an interest in playing for the club but with no team at present, they are at a disadvantage. This is something Mr Pearce and other club leaders want to see change.
'There is a ladies team in the Okehampton area and lots of girls that are keen to play but there is no-where they can go within the club or in a competition environment,' he said.
'The major part of the grant, if we get it, will be to set up a girls' team.'
Mr Pearce said the club had always relied on donations to survive but it needed to be looking at grant funding in order to increase in size and facilities.
'At the moment the club is a bit stagnant — we can take more but we need better facilities. That is where funding like the lottery comes in,' he said.
The club hopes that this will be the first application of many to outside funding sources and its aim is to get another pitch.
It will be working in conjunction with OCRA and Okehampton College to secure bigger grant aid in the future possibly from the Football Foundation or Sport England.