Bermuda football not only has to compete with other sports to entice kids to play, but they also have to compete with the likes of PlayStation, TV the Internet and regretaby now the terrible "attraction" of gangs.

"We have to up our game," said Andrew Bascome, one of the Island's top coaches who started the ABC Football School earlier this year.

Bascome, who Bermuda youngsters have looked up to for many years, is dismayed by the negative influence of gangs and the like but also challenged the Island's adults to reach the youth.

"We can't give up on them," said the passionate coach during a break in training at Bernard Park earlier this month.

"We have to compete with the PlayStation and also with sports like gymnastics and track and field who have stepped up their game – and good for them too. We should not take it for granted that these kids are going to play football. We have to pick our game up – we have to provide more. There are more distractions today than when I was growing up. The kids today may say 'I don't want to go and train and play in the hot sun when I can be on my PlayStation at home in the air conditioning'. We have to challenge them and if we do it right I think they (the kids) will rise to the occasion."

Bascome was one of Bermuda's best ever players and has since gone on to become one of the Island's best coaches. In fact he took his first coaching course when he was only 18 years old.

But he is concerned about the youth today.

"We have to find a way to reach these kids," he said.

On the subject of youths joining gangs, Bascome said: "It does make you wonder why they (kids) do it – unfortunately they may feel that they are not important and have to go that route. We have to be creative in finding ways to reach our kids. I often wonder what our leaders are working towards in this country. We have become very selfish today. But I believe that sport can bring people together. And there is no reason why education and sports cannot go together. You can't say that if you are good in school you can't be good in sports or vice versa – I don't believe that.

"We have to use football as a vehicle – just look at the likes of Paul Cann, Kevin Richards, Streaker Adams and (BFA president) Richard Calderon. They were all very good at football and used it to further their education (in college). And we have to find a way to get our kids into college – not everyone can be a professional player. In fact very few will have that chance.

"At the very least we as adults, coaches and teachers, have to strive to make our kids better people. We can't just turn away from them and say 'they're bad kids'. That's not the answer. As adults they are our responsibility.

"We know kids are going to challenge us but we have to meet those challenges – and we have to find ways to improve their self esteem. Sure some of them are coming out of bad situations but we cannot use that as an excuse. Sport is character building so let's use that. We have to adapt and reach them."

Bascome has been leading football camps for 10 to 15 years but his ABC Football School is "something new".

"I have a variety of kids from all walks of life. We have had the summer camp and we will be continuing it when school starts up again."

Bascome was helped in setting up the ABC Football School by businessman Henrick Schroder. "He has helped me organise it and has been very helpful. He loves football and had seen me running my sessions." Early next month Bascome and a couple of other coaches will travel to France for a ten-day visit to the French national football centre Clairefontaine as part of a deal with acclaimed coach Jacques Crevoisier who has been to Bermuda before to conduct courses.

And Bascome has also managed to forge a link – with the help of Schroder – with Spanish giants Valencia who will be bringing their world-renowned skills camp to Bermuda in October.

That camp – the Next Generation VCF Camp – will run from October 15 to 18, and will see 180 youngsters train with Valencia's academy staff who will also hold seminars and practice session for local coaches.

The Next Generation project is part of the club's efforts to spread Valencia's name, culture and ambitions throughout the world. They have already stretched their global expansion to Jamaica where they held an Easter camp.

At his ABC camps Bascome tries to instill a sense of sharing.

"We have become very selfish in Bermuda. We don't want to share anything. Times have changed. Now you have one kid in a family – years ago it was four or six and as much as you didn't want to share, you had to. Now I am not advocating that everyone have big families but when there is only one child that child has to be taught to share. They don't know any better unless they are taught. I had seven uncles and two aunties and they shared and they passed that down to us. But today it can be a lot different."

And he wants adults to help the youth of Bermuda to make the right decisions in life.

"It is the same with football – it is all about making the right decision. You can have all the skill in the world but that is no use if you do not make the right decisions – the right time to make a pass, the right time to shoot.

"Education and football are both about making the right decisions. Hopefully sports can help our youth on the right path."

And spoiling the youngsters does not help either.

"I look around and I see that some of our kids think they are entitled to win – entitled to have what they want. We have to stop showering our kids with luxuries – we are replacing our love with luxuries. We are buying them off many times and that doesn't help matters.

"We have to give them love and praise. At the camp we praise them all the time. They hear enough negativity elsewhere."

But that doesn't mean letting youngsters get away with anything.

"Kids will always see how far they can go – they will push it. We are the ones who have to show them where the border is and they will appreciate it. Kids like rules."

When Bascome gets the very young kids in his camp the first thing he wants them to do is play and have fun.

Although he has been on coaching courses all of his adult life, Bascome does believe that children can be overcoached.

"Maybe they are getting too much coaching early on and then once they get to 17 and 18 years old they are burnt out. I question whether we are coaching too much when they are young. After all, how much coaching do you want at age six or seven?

"When they get to 11 and 12 years old they start having idols like Ronaldo and then when they are 13 or 14 years old they are looking to the coaches, the school teachers."

One reason why Bascome is excited for his ABC Football School linking up with Valencia is the strength of the Spanish way of doing things.

"You look at the Spanish team – they don't have many real big guys and likewise in Bermuda we don't have a lot of big guys. But the Spanish player finds a way to be effective – we are not all built like (former top Bermuda pros) Clyde Best and Shaun Goater who are big. Also it is timely that Spain just won the World Cup."

Of the upcoming camp with Valencia in October, Bascome said: "We are taking kids from all different levels. But one thing I would say to anyone signing up – make sure that you really want to be a part of it. Don't sign up because your parents think it will be a good idea or you think it will be glamorous. Sign up because you want to do it."

Anyone interested in sponsoring, contributing funds or giving support to the Next Generation VCF Camp, can contact Henrik Schroder from the ABC Football School on 295-6198, or e-mail at abcfootballschool@gmail.com

For more details about the ABC Football School's summer programmes visit www.abcfootballschool.com.