YOUNG Bailey's Bay star, Stephen Outerbridge, has come back from the West Indies Cricket Academy in Grenada with a fresh outlook on the game. And he was stunned by what he learned during his three-month tenure in the Caribbean.

Outerbridge who plies his trade at Bay with elder brother Jermaine Outerbridge and cousin Burton, was also a member on Bermuda's ill-fated trip to the America's Cup in Argentina earlier this year.

But the former youth skipper saw his fortunes receive a boost in the Caribbean when he received an award for the most improved batsman at the prestigious academy - the incubator for future West Indies Test players.

"It's just amazing how much you can learn over a three-month period," said Outerbridge.

"It was real challenging and it makes you a mentally tougher player."

Summoned to the gym at 6.10 a.m. for a one-hour and 45 minute workout with the weights, it was then off to the class room for the next five-hours.

"After about a month and half down there, you're body is telling you to quit, but mentally you have to keep pressing forward," he added.

"We worked on our balance, bio mechanics, natural movement and then sometimes we had umpires come in.

"We also did a bit of pitch preparation and had Viv Richards (former West Indies Test captain) and Allan Lamb (former England Test batsman) come in and lecture us."

After hours of attentive listening, next up, around 2.30 p.m., was the highlight of the day - three and a half hours of net practice.

"That pretty much was your average day."

Outerbridge also played in several matches, where he opened the batting for one of the teams comprised of fellow students.

"We played about eight 50-overs matches amongst ourselves and two, two-day matches," he pointed out.

"The first game I played in was a two-day match and I opened the batting and scored 49.

"I also got an unbeaten 40 and a couple of scores in the 20's, so I was pretty consistent."

He was also afforded the privilege to face some fiery bowling, while admitting that some quick adjustments had to made to accommodate life in the fast lane.

"It was certainly an experience opening up against quality pace bowlers every innings.

"You had to have a lot of patience - you can't go out there thinking that you are going to just beat the ball about. You may get away with it for a while. I used to like playing outside the off-stump a lot - especially to a ball pitched up, but I had to leave that shot alone early in the innings.

"I think that's were my development came.

"At the beginning, the first two days were probably the hardest part.

"You don't know anybody and you are just arriving, but once you settled in and got to acquaint yourself with everyone else it got easier - except for the training which was real draining."

The talented teenager also pointed out some of the areas that plagued his personal development in the past.

"Before when I used to play, I used to be complacent, but now when I enter the field I want to win," he said of his new burning desire.

"Down there, guys are very competitive and it's just brushed off on me."

And he felt he learned why Bermuda wasn't as successful in overseas competitions.

"Bermuda cricket is played at a lower level and is nowhere near where it should be," he said. "It's not real competitive at all. You only have Cup Match and some county matches that are competitive, but other than that it's not real competitive.

"Every game that you play down there (West Indies) is competitive - guys are ready to compete."

Outerbridge also said that players in Bermuda don't think and calculate the game.

"I remember times when Bailey's Bay used to be so far ahead and then suddenly we end up losing wickets - nobody's thinking. I think the only local player that really uses his head is Clay (Smith) and people may say this or that about him, but he calculates his cricket and that's one thing that I like about him.

"There are not a lot of thinkers in the game, and that's why I believe that we get into a lot of trouble when we get away - nobody knows how to work the singles when it's really tight bowling.

"You may get three or four bad balls in an over in Bermuda - that's the balls that you punish and then from there you just work your singles, but everybody wants to hit every thing for six."

Bermuda and Bay should try to copy the best in the world, said Outerbridge. "And that's Australia - they don't play by hitting the ball, hitting the ball, hitting the ball, they run a lot of singles and if you check it, they score around 300 runs on the first day of a Test Match. And in a one-day match most times you don't bowl them out."

According to Jacobi Robinson - another promising local youngster who recently experienced first hand the cricket in the Caribbean - to play at the highest level you have to be totally fit, have the mental toughness and dedication.

"You certainly have to dedicate yourself the whole way - that's just one of the main things about it," said Robinson, who endured a torrid time on the end of some humiliating losses playing for an America's Regional select in the West Indies Under 19 Tournament in Jamaica.

"It was pretty hard. Fielding out for an entire day. I have never fielded out for a whole day - I am used to playing 50 overs cricket. But as the tournament went on it was alright."

Coming up against Trinidad & Tobago, Robinson's team suffered their most embarrassing loss of the tournament - dismissed in the first innings for an astonishing 14 runs.

"At the time I knew that my team wasn't that strong to compete at that level," he admitted.

"So I didn't expect to win, I was there to gain experience at what it takes to play at that level.

"Hopefully now having seen what it takes, I can now enforce it an carry on my own development."

Robinson concluding that he hopes to make the senior squad again, having also been a part of Bermuda's senior national team in Argentina.

"So it has definitely been a great experience for me."

Western Stars' wicketkeeper Jekon Edness, who also played alongside Robinson on the America's select team, added: "I wanted to at least give the teams out there some competition.

"But when we got out there, we weren't any competition to them at all, but the experience itself was pretty good - it was my first time playing the longer version of the game (three-day match).

"It fitted me more because I'm a more defensive batsman and you can just take your time batting and stay out there all day long if you wanted."

Edness' highest score on tour was an unbeaten 40 against Canada which his team lost by six-wickets.

Young promising batsman Detroy Smith from St. George's was also a part of the America's select.