Athletes have one week left to sign-up for Bermuda’s youth America’s Cup team trials.

So far 35 athletes have applied for the first round of trials on August 8, with 22 sailors and 13 non-sailors in that number.

Organisers though are hoping more of the Island’s best young sportsmen and women will tryout for the team.

“We’re very pleased with the response to date,” Craig Brown, the vice-chairman of the Team BDA committee, said. “However, we know we haven’t yet reached everyone with the potential to make the team.

“So, we’re making a second call for young people to seize this opportunity in time for the first try out on August 8.

“We think it’s the brightest opportunity to come along in a long time for our country’s young athletes.”

Sailor Mackenzie Cooper and Somerset Cup Match player Greg Maybury have both signed up to try out, as have Preston Farrow and Mustafa Ingham.

Farrow was on hand at the National Sports Centre yesterday to help launch Team BDA’s second push for applicants, and the 21-year-old said he was inspired to join up because he saw it as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Ingham, meanwhile, said he signed-up because he wanted to test himself “physically and mentally.”

The Team BDA committee plan to have another trial in September with the aim that by early next year they will have whittled down the number of athletes and sailors to a squad of 18.

That squad will then be subjected to intensive coaching and training so they are equipped to compete with the world’s best young sailors in foiling high performance catamarans.

The final racing team will consist of six Red Bull Youth America’s Cup squad members, with others supporting as training partners and a shore team.

To be eligible for Bermuda’s Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team athletes must be at least 19-years-old and under 25-years-old on December 31, 2017, and be born in Bermuda or possess a Bermuda passport.