The Bermuda Cricket Board will embark on both short and long-term programmes in the coming months, preparing the national team for the Division 3 Championships next April and adding youngsters to the National Academy programme after a successful recent tour of the UK.The domestic season will end this weekend with the promotion play-off match between Cleveland and Western Stars, but work will continue over the winter months for national squad players as Bermuda begins to host the Division 3 Championships next spring. Long term the Board is using the National Academy to develop future national squad players.“Most definitely our situation is that both programmes are high priority for us, so they can both work in unison so that we get the high quality development of our youth without taking away from anything in our national programmes,” said head coach David Moore.“We have enough quality coaches around that can handle those programmes quite comfortably. I’m confident that it is important to maintain our national programme, but obviously we need to luck at the future, a succession plan, and who is going to replace who when retirement comes or players lose form or lose interest.”Already there is a good crop of young players — the likes of Stefan Kelly, Kamau Leverock, Joshua Gilbert, Greg Maybury, Tre Manders and Terryn Fray — either already in or on the fringe of the national squad who will form the nucleus of the next national team. But Moore stresses that with development must come patience as players take time to come up to international standard.“Everyone wants results straight away but they have to understand that there are other countries at a similar level to us that are looking to improve as much if not more than us,” said the coach. “Our aim is to get ourselves in a position where we have cutting edge national academy programmes as well as developing the players’ skills and technical and tactical know-how for the senior team.”Moore says the National Academy tour for Under-13 and Under-15 players was an excellent investment in the development of our young players and hasn’t ruled out similar annual or biennial tours in the future.“From the National Academy and coach’s point of view it was a very big success because there were a couple of things we wanted to achieve ... to get the players out there and give them a better level of competition than they are exposed to on the Island and to let them see what other countries are doing in their cricket and what other teams and players of the same age are doing,” said Moore.“Also it was the cultural aspect where the children got to experience some things they are not used to and going to see Lord’s and seeing a first class cricket game to give them an idea of the pathways that are open to young players. That tour of Lord’s plus the opportunity to train with the MCC coaching staff was absolutely fantastic for the guys. That idea that there is more to cricket than just Bermuda cricket is very important for their development.”The skill development process will go on during the winter and then they will break into their national squads when the cricket season starts. They will effectively train from November all the way through to August and we are still investigating the idea of another tour next year. We’d like to make it biennial if not annual.”And, says Moore, an important lesson was also learned prior to the tour when the youngsters were required to participate in the fundraising for the trip. “The children did a lot of fundraising and their parents worked together with them which was important for young players to understand the value of a tour such as this and to work hard in the fundraising,’ he stressed.They all really worked hard and that’s one of the things that we as a community organisation such as cricket has to do and that is give the appreciation of hard work and the rewards that come from hard work rather than handing it to them on a platter.”The Acdemy trials will be held for Under-13, Under-15 and Under-19 players, with team trials for Under-13s on September 23 and 30 during net sessions at Berkeley from 10am to 12 noon; Under-15s on the same dates from 12.30 to 2.30 and Under-19s on September 21 and 28 at Berkeley from 5-7pm.In order to take part in the trials players are required to e-mail the BCB office on info@cricket.bm or call 292 8958 with the name, age-group, contact number and e-mail address. Players should bring their own water and equipment and wear comfortable athletic clothing and shoes.The BCB National Academy is run under the directorship Moore. The Academy’s focus is to coach players in batting, bowling, fielding and wicket keeping and to develop and improve technical proficiency, tactical awareness, cognitive understanding, physical development and a psychological grounding in each athlete. The teams will train regularly under the guidance of qualified cricket coaches and will compete locally and/or overseas.“The BCB is continually building upon the progress that is made in the development of young people both as cricketers and productive members of Bermudian society,” said Moore. “We are continuing to spread the net wide to give young cricketers the opportunity of elite coaching and character development by having these selection trials. I encourage all those young cricketers who would like to be a part of the Bermuda Cricket Board National Academy (BCBNA) programme to attend these trials. I would also encourage all the Club coaches, administrators and school teachers to support young cricketers who you believe have the potential and get them along to the trials.“The programme is already having positive benefits for our young cricketers. Jordan Smith (Under-18 and Under-15 squads) and Rudy Butterfield (Under-15 squad) have won scholarships to private schools in the UK through their cricket skills. The reputation of the BCBNA programme is gaining strength internationally where being a part of the squad is opening doors in the cricket and educational world in countries throughout the world.”From November 18 to March 31, players will be involved in skill specific practice and divided into pace bowling, batting, wicketkeeping and spin bowling specialist groups and coached in those areas to improve their specialist skills.From April 7 to August 31, players will practise in squad to continue the technical, tactical, cognitive, psychological and attitudinal processes through continued skill development as well as the application of those skills through match simulation and trial games. Players will also undertake the YouthNet programme to develop character and other life-skills.