D'Vario Thompson, 14, is one of the Bermuda Squash Racket Association's most promising young players. The Bermuda under-15 champion has twice reached the semi-finals in the Caribbean Junior Squash Championships.

He is also a member of the Bermuda team, which has placed second and third in the last two years of the Caribbean Squash Championships. Locally D'Vario has won the BIAS squash tournament and has placed well in several adult competitions.

His coach, Patrick Foster, describes him as one of the best young players on the Island and says that he has an impressive dedication to training and a great future. Squash is more than just a recreational past time for D'Vario; it has become a passion.

He says the sport has taught him lessons about working hard and constantly improving one's self.

"I love squash because it is challenging and has shown me that there is always room for improvement," he said. "No matter how well you play, there is always something that you can do better. So I always try to train as hard as I can and challenge myself to do better than my best."

In 2008 the Mount Saint Agnes grade nine student took the initiative to negotiate a year-long sponsorship deal with one of the biggest names in squash, Harrow Sports.

"A couple of years ago I wrote to Harrow to tell them about myself and asked them to sponsor me," he said. "They awarded me with a year-long sponsorship and sent me shoes, new rackets and basically everything squash related. I could have renewed it for another year but the school that I plan to go to in the UK is sponsored by another company so I have changed brands."

D'Vario is heading to Wycliffe College, a boarding school in Gloucester, England known for producing top-notch squash players.

"I heard about the school because it is famous for producing great players," he said. "A friend of mine from Trinidad, who I met while playing for Bermuda in the Caribbean, goes to the school and he put in a good word for me.

"I met with the coach at Wycliffe and we hit it off so they were able to provide me with a £5,000 scholarship."

And in an attempt to gain some support from Government, the enterprising young man is in the process of writing to Premier Ewart Brown to seek out additional assistance in going abroad. "I am writing to the Premier to introduce myself, explain my situation and my love for squash in the hopes of getting some more assistance," he said. "I am not really sure what he could do to help, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask."

His passion for squash is so strong that D'Vario says that he wants pursue a career in the sport. "I want to get as good as I can at squash," he said. "I am going to train as hard as possible and remain dedicated.

"I would really like to go to the US for university and hopefully a school like Trinity, Harvard or Yale because they have some of the best squash programmes in the country. When I finish school I still want to be involved in the sport, either by being a professional player or coaching."

His advice to other young Bermudians: "Never look down on yourself, believe in yourself, work hard and you can achieve anything out of life."