It’s taken months and months of incredibly hard work on the part of a lot of different people, but it looks like next week we’ll finally be able to get the Bermuda Hogges up and running when we name the 26 players who will compete for five months this summer in the United Soccer League.

Of course, we’d love to reveal the identity of the squad sooner than that but we’re currently in the process of officially registering the players with the league and would most likely be fined if we were to divulge anything publicly before we’ve dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s.

What I can say is that the response from this country’s top footballers has been excellent and all of us involved in the management of the team are more than confident that when the squad is announced, the public will be able to look at the names and agree that it’s just about the strongest squad we could have assembled.

Now with some of the players still likely to be involved with their club sides for the next few weeks, there are some tough decisions to make regarding both the Hogges and their club team.

We will continue to work with the clubs and players as they have some games remaining — but we can no longer wait for the season to finish.

As I’ve eluded to in previous columns, the requirements the players are going to be asked to fulfil will be unprecedented for footballers in Bermuda.

Everything from endurance, strength, weight and body fat content will be stringently monitored and assessed in accordance with the professional environment we aim to create.

It’s going to be tough for the players, no question, particularly the 23 who are not on full-time contracts and still have to work for a living.

The plan once we’re underway is to have a session devoted entirely to fitness first thing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The players will then go off to work, but will back together again every evening from Monday to Saturday for a full-on training session.

It’s going to be hard and the players are going to have to be willing to make sacrifices in terms of their free time. But that’s what it is going to take in order for us to be competitive in this professional league.

There is simply no time to waste and no room for players who aren’t willing to put the necessary work in.

But having spoken to all of the players likely to be involved, they’re all aware of what they are getting themselves into and we’ve been delighted by how positive their reaction has been to the prospect of a challenge.

All of them must appreciate what a fantastic opportunity this is for them, particularly some of the younger ones who aspire to play professionally overseas.

Elsewhere, as some of you may have read in yesterday’s paper, we’ve been approached by two well-known individuals in local football to help with the preparation of the squad — people we’re more than happy to have involved.

National team coach Kenny Thompson contacted us a few weeks ago offering his services as a qualified fitness trainer. Kenny will take charge of the players when it comes to training warm-ups and fitness work on none-game days, though he’ll take guidance from Kyle as to how intensive this should be from day to day. Dennis Brown, meanwhile, will assist on occasion with the defensive qualities.

From a footballing perspective we have Kyle, Paul Scope and myself in place to coach while Dennis will fill in for Paul if he’s away on business.

From the very beginning, whether it’s been appointing somebody to organise game-day activities, co-ordinate drug tests, put the players through fitness assessments or whatever, we’ve tried our hardest to utilise the very best people available in Bermuda. And in Kenny and Dennis, I think we’ve continued doing that.

So, we’re almost there. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the schedule will be finalised, the Hogges merchandise will be ready and Hogges season tickets will be going on sale.

I certainly hope the public are as excited about this new era in local football as I am, and when it comes to our first home game, that the stands at the National Sports Centre will be packed with thousands of people giving the team their support!