Bermuda's James Stout sets out on the daunting road to squash professionalism over the next few weeks.

The Island teenager, who represented Bermuda at the CAC Games in El Salvador this month, will rack up the miles over the next year as he begins to boost his ranking. He turns professional in January but is still eligible to play junior tournaments until August.

His calendar begins relatively painlessly with the Canadian Junior Open this weekend before he heads south to Yale University for the US Junior Olympics.

From then on it is all deadly serious with Stout making his debut at the Scottish, British and Irish Junior Opens over the coming weeks.

Stout will join Ian Redford, Graham Counsel and Justin Robinson in Canada on Saturday and the quartet will then travel to Yale for the event which takes place between December 19 and 22.

A total of 16 youngsters head to the US Junior Olympics with the Island represented in Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 divisions for both boys and girls.

“We are going for the experience but we also have some players who are pretty competitive,” said Ross Triffitt, Bermuda's director of squash. “It's been an ongoing process and we have been competing regularly for the last three years. Now all the kids are starting to show better results at what is the second biggest tournament in the world. The British Open has the highest participation but this one is extremely close with more than 400 kids from over 30 countries involved.”

Meanwhile, the BSRA held its Pirates Port Junior Grand Prix final on Sunday.

The event comprises six tournaments held throughout the calendar year and this year's winner on 55 points was Jordan Amaral.

Amaral and Colin James actually amassed the same number of points but James lost out on the countback, Amaral winning three out of the six tournaments to James' two.

In third place came Robert Forbes, fourth was Laura Robinson, fifth Jeff Olsen and sixth Chris Stout.

“We had over 70 children competing throughout the year,” said Triffitt.

Sunday also saw the Aon inter-schools tournament take place with action in three divisions.

In Division One, Warwick Academy defeated Whitney Lions for the win, with Spice Valley third.

Saltus Monkeys took Division Two by beating the Whitney Bulls with Whitney Bears third.

In Division Three Saltus Pigs saw off the Montessori Cheesecakes with Elliot Ducks third.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend the BSRA sent eight children to the Vassar Junior Classic in Poughkeepsie, New York. Competition took place in the Under-13 and Under-15 categories.

“The most notable performance came from Robert Maycock who was seeded third in the tournament,” said Triffitt. “He defeated the number two seed in the semi-final to make the final before losing out 3-1.

“The performance was particularly good seeing as though Robert broke his toe before his semi-final match. He did well to win that match but was not at full speed in the final although he still managed to make a close match of it.”

Another good showing came from 13-year-old Caty Luckhurst who made the final eight.

“In the round of 16 she won a very close match in five games,” said Triffitt. “That earned her a quarter-final spot where she lost out to the number one seed.”