THE women’s national football coach Vance Brown will be looking to youth as he zeros in on naming his squad for this summer’s Island Games.And his preparation efforts have been boosted by a $60,000 grant in the recent $15 million cash bonanza the Bermuda Football Association received from Government this month.

Brown will be seeking to at least equal the bronze medal his girls got last time around in Shetland.

But he thinks a gold could be possible.

“We have every opportunity to win it. Last time even when we lost games we were competing with teams all the way,” he said.

Now he is keen to set up friendlies to get his squad back in the groove after even the recent drubbings in the Gold Cup.

Brown said even those defeats had yielded some plus points by exposing younger players to international competition.

He told the Mid-Ocean News: “We want to develop our game as players, we have a lot of younger players coming through now and it should only help us by getting these younger players exposed by letting them play in international competition.”

He mentioned attackers Akil-lah Berkeley-Breamer and Dominique Richardson, both 15, and defender Lesha Dill, 16, as showing a lot of promise.

“I think they are ready. Last time we played in the Gold Cup we took 14-year-old girls — Shonte Campbell and Jenay Edness. They played excellently.”

And he has a good squad to draw from with seven or eight players on overseas soccer scholarships to US colleges.

However it means he can’t get together with his players as often as he would like as up to a dozen are off the island studying while often the competitions he needs them for take place out of season.

“But they have acquitted themselves well when we have selected them when they are overseas.

“This year we have selected quite a few locals and we have selected a lot of youngsters.”

He is now putting together a training squad but the final cut for the Island Games must come before May 30.

He knows the Faroes and Aland will be strong once again.

“The European players are big and they put in the work.”

Brown said he would like to play one friendly a month in the lead up to the Island Games in June.

College teams in the US will be approached while Brown is also eyeing Caribbean friendlies as he doesn’t want to lose focus on the more typical fixtures Bermuda comes across in the international scene.

“But we have to be realistic about it and do what we have to do to make sure players properly prepare.”

Locally Brown wants a friendly a week so the girls will continue to take on Under-15 and Under-13 boys teams.

And his efforts have been strengthened by the health of the domestic league which with two new teams aiming to join next year — Warwick Academy and North Village.

For now Brown is working on basic ball skills and getting the team used to playing with each other.

“When the season ends in March we will pick it up from there.”