THE 20-20 World Cricket Classic is only one side of what will be going on at the National Sports Centre during the week ahead.

While some of the great names of cricket will be battling it out in 20-over matches on the North Field, next door inside the football stadium will be a Health and Activities Village (HAV).

The complex has been designed and put together by Classic organisers GEFF (Get Fit Foundation) to encourage people of all ages and physical abilities to discover how much fun it is to become more active.

All those coming to watch the cricket will see the HAV as they will have to come through the football stadium's south turnstiles and walk through the village to get to the cricket venue.

"The whole idea is that the cricket fans will get an extra walk ? it's all about being active," said GEFF director Caroline Knox.

Admission to the village, where around 100 volunteers will be working each day, costs $10 and passes for all activities are free to entrants. It will be open from tomorrow until April 30.

The activities range from the Bermuda Green Dragon Playground and the Turtle Tumbler Bouncy Castle to "tenpin zorbing", in which participants climb inside a huge ball with a 12-foot diameter and roll along, knocking over four-foot pins.

There are also inflatable devices that enable you to test your throwing accuracy and bowling speed, as well as an opportunity to bat against a bowling machine, which will be set to serve the age and aptitude of the batsman.

There will also be an inflatable slip fielding station which will throw up catches with a soft or a hard ball, at various speeds.

Other sports are represented too. An inflatable goal-mouth will be on hand for people to have a go at scoring or saving penalty kicks.

And there will also be a "rugby rebound" machine. This involves attaching an elasticated cord to the waste and seeing if you can make it over the line for a try against the cord's resistance.

"It's like bungee jumping without the jump," Ms Knox said.

"With all these activities the emphasis is on fun. What will happen is that your heart rate will go up and you will be killing yourself laughing. And you will come out and join the queue so you can go in and have another go."

GEFF is the UK's national body in charge of promoting an active lifestyle. It receives no funding from the British Government and is a not-for-profit organisation.

It was launched two years ago to help the UK Government to achieve its aim of getting 70 per cent of the British people exercising for at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week.

The World Cricket Classic came about as a result of GEFF representatives travelling to Bermuda during the World Rugby Classic to interview former international rugby union players Martin Johnson and Francois Pienaar for promotional material.

"We saw the Rugby Classic and met its organiser, John Kane, and learned how it had worked for 18 years," Ms Knox said. "We believed we could do a similar thing here with cricket.

"This has given us the opportunity to bring our activities village to Bermuda, where there is a very high rate of diabetes.

"Type Two diabetes, which used to be known as age-related diabetes, is now appearing in children under five. The World Health Organisation says diabetes will be the next epidemic. Modern lifestyles are contributing to that and becoming more active can help."

Although GEFF's message includes the benefits of sports, it goes much further. It wants to reach people who are not athletically inclined and teach them the benefits of incorporating some kind of activity into their daily lives.

"We want to show people who may feel intimated about getting involved in activities, because of their age, size or disabilities, that there are things that everyone can do," Ms Knox said.

"There are different kinds of people. Some people need to be given a helping hand and support and to be told they can do it. Some people are embarrassed about it because they're overweight. Some people need to see others do it first before they'll have a go. And then there are people who start and don't finish.

"Some of the cricketers who will be playing in the Classic are overweight and we have been criticised for that. But I consider it a positive thing.

"It shows that they are real people who face the same fitness and weight challenges as everyone else."

Visitors to the HAV will have the opportunity to sign up to the GEFF web site's I-Ped tracking system. This involves participants logging their level of activity through a pedometer, which measures the steps its wearer has made.

Messages of congratulation and encouragement are sent out to members by GEFF, according to pedometer results, and participants will also receive messages from celebrity supporters of GEFF, including England football team captain David Beckham.

The scheme ties in with GEFF's stated aim of persuading people to integrate activity of all kinds into their daily lives.

Hundreds of schoolchildren will visit the activities village next week and will take part in an "Amazing Journey" game. This will involve them having a go at all the activities, while wearing pedometers, and searching for clues to reach the next stage of the game.

Prizes will be awarded in different bands ? 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 steps ? according to how active the youngster has been.

An active lifestyle can help to prevent and combat all sorts of illnesses and ailments, and several health charities will have a presence at the HAV.

They include the Bermuda Heart Foundation, Open Airways, P.A.L.S., the St. John Ambulance Brigade, and the Bermuda TB, Cancer and Health Association.

Ms Knox, an Englishwoman who now lives in Australia, knows Bermuda well, having worked here for six years at the old Bermuda Provident Bank.

She has considerable experience in public relations and promoting events, gleaned from her work with Dr. Henry Kissinger in the US and the New South Wales Health Minister in Australia.

She said the Cricket Classic would give a massive publicity boost to Bermuda, particularly in the UK. A 60-minute highlights programme on the 20-20 Classic will be screened on Britain's Channel Five. As well as the cricket, the show will include shots of some of the island's beauty spots.

Channel Five has won the rights to screen highlights of Test and one-day internationals in Britain and the Bermuda show will open its cricket coverage.