Though more youngsters are playing cricket today, outgoing national coach Mark Harper says the challenge is to maintain their focus on the sport as they grow older.

?The challenge is to keep the youth focused. In Bermuda when guys get to age 15 and start getting their bikes and girlfriends that takes a bit of interest from cricket.

?They still play the game but they are not as focused as they ought to be,? he noted.

While he would have loved to see the game flourishing in schools, he said he recognised the difficulty of achieving that as many physical education teachers did not pay attention to the bat-and-ball discipline and therefore ?the youth programme needs to be more vibrant at club level?.

Harper, who leaves the Island tomorrow after a three-year stint, suggested all clubs establish two youth teams at either under-13, under-15 or under-19 level and that greater cohesion be fostered among the varying youth programmes.

?Right now things are very fragmented. You have the Bermuda Cricket Board (BCB) running something and then some other guys are running their own private thing. They all need to come under one umbrella,? he pointed out.

The former Guyana national player highlighted some success at certain youth level and called for foreign youth teams to be invited here annually to help push young cricketers further.

He applauded the national under-15 team?s success at regional level for the last three years, having defended their Americas title in Cayman Islands in summer. The under-19s too came in for Harper?s praise.

?Even though they have played some good cricket they have not been that fortunate to win the (Americas) tournament. But they were runners-up in 2001 and came third in 2003. They also had some outstanding individual performances along the way.?

He noted that with the Americas region looking to host youth tournaments annually in the future, rather than every two years, Bermuda?s budding cricket talent should have even more opportunities to showcase their ability.