For a man who so clearly believes education is more important than football, Dwayne (Streaker) Adams has not done at all badly for himself.

One of the longest-serving national team players in recent years, three seasons as a pro in the States, All American at college and, let us not forget, leading North Village to a potential triple crown without so much as a senior coaching badge to speak of.

But despite his success in the international and domestic game, if you spend more than half-an-hour talking football with the constantly smiling goalkeeping great, you will soon realise what his favourite sports topic is ? youth, and more specifically, the importance of using football to get an education.

Streaker ? so called because he apparently had a penchant for running around naked as a child ? dreamed of life as a pro as a teenager, but when his chance to hit the big time arrived, he rejected it out of hand.

After trialing at English side Crewe Alexandra ? including having sessions run by World Cup hero David Platt ? Adams was offered a three-month contract with the club with a view to a longer deal.

With little hesitation, Adams rejected the move, instead preferring to head to High Point University to play for the Panthers.

?I made a decision that it was important to get my education,? said Adams, who is as thoughtful and articulate a football man as you are likely to find in the domestic game.

?I guess it was a big deal but for me it wasn?t much of a decision. Why risk it all playing football when I could get my education and still have the option to go on into the pro game.

?In the end it worked out fine. I did my time and then I still got to taste the life of pro footballer.?

He effectively made the same decision again a few years later, turning his back on the Charlotte Eagles after three years when the pressures of work forced him to a career crossroads.

?Again, it was furthering myself or football and I had to make the right choice,? continued Adams, who actually commuted from Bermuda to Charlotte for his final season between the sticks with the USL club.

?I look at what I have now, workwise, socially and even footballing wise and I am convinced I made the right decision on both occasions.

?I don?t regret either of those decisions. There are some occasions when I wonder about what could have happened but you can?t regret losing what you never had.

?The more I think about it, the happier I am with the choices I made over the years and I try and give the same advice to my players now, and not just the younger ones.

?I try and tell them that getting an education is the most important thing they can do. The priorities of the youth in Bermuda are all wrong, they think winning their matches is everything. But that isn?t the case.

?Getting As or Bs is more important than football. Use football as part of your education but don?t risk your education for football.?

It was this philanthropic attitude that Adams wears on his sleeve that first drew him into the Village coaching fraternity.

Just offering to help out, the former Village and Rangers goalkeeper found himself taking over from national team stalwart and former Hereford defender Kentoine Jennings and, along with Maceo Dill, a new management one-two was brought in to Village to start the new season.

Some of his inspiration was drawn from barbed comments that suggested the new Bernard Park coaching duo would drag one of Bermuda?s top side down into the First Division mire, an early prognosis that could not have been much wider of the mark.

A 4-3 scoreline against Devonshire Cougars in the Charity Cup season opener didn?t really tell the story of a match which Village dominated with early goals before falling asleep at the end to allow Andrew Bascome?s men to score late and save their pride.

The semi-finals of the Martonmere were reached as was the final of the Dudley Eve, which was lost on penalties to Cougars despite beating them in the first round of the festive competition, while Village remain hot in pursuit of the Triple Crown with a final spot booked already for the Friendship Trophy on Sunday and Division One opposition drawn in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

The league crown, which was awarded to Village three days ago after yet another win, had been secured the previous week thanks to a 7-2 walloping of Ireland Rangers, who Village had earlier beaten 9-0 at Malabar.

?I am delighted but I can?t take all the credit,? said Adams, who has donned the ?keeper?s jersey four times this campaign.

?I inherited an incredibly talented group of young men and that has made my job easier as has the presence of my able assistant Maceo.

?There were those who said that we were going to struggle with no management experience between us but we have done the opposite. Things started well with that first piece of silverware although we then did have some problems adapting to the new way of playing.

?In a way we crept along, which was fine, we were under the radar for a while and now we can say we are league champions and have either reached ? or are probably set to reach ? the semi-finals of all the cups this year.

?It?s been a great first year and I couldn?t be happier with it.?

What makes the achievement all the more remarkable is the distinct lack of credentials on the CVs of either the coach or his assistant aside from some youth sessions conducted while in his university days in North Carolina.

So, Streaker, how did you achieve all of this success despite your lack of coaching pedigree?

?I think I learnt a lot about the game from my days as a goalkeeper,? continued Adams, smiling at the impertinence of the question which he has already been asked on too many occasions this trophy-winning season.

?I was used to pulling players around, telling my defenders who to mark, where to cover and generally marshalling the players from the back. That gave me a very good grounding in leadership and how to structure a team plus I have been involved with some great coaches in my days as a player and being involved in a professional set-up for a few years ? as well as my time of training every day at college ? has given me some hints as to how to coach a team.

?When I took over I just didn?t take over to see how I could get on, I took over to win.?

Like most youngsters Streaker, along with his brothers Tracy and Donovan, was a mad-keen sportsman.

He obsessed about the sport which he played as often as he could, and his inroads into national team success began early.

Already staking his claim in the number one jersey, Adams was very quickly playing with older kids in representative sides both at Village and the national side, whom he became involved with at the tender age of 13.

Although not quite the same age, Adams was involved in the Under-18 national side that contained Shaun Goater and World Cup-bound cricketers Dean Minors and Clay Smith.

And their goalkeeper is proud to say he played with such sportsmen.

?When I look at what Shaun has done, it is pleasing to see,? said Adams, who describes training with players of the Goat?s calibre as ?a pleasure and a challenge?.

?I don?t envy him ? I made my educational choices rather than going pro ? but I am pleased for him. It was great to watch him on television and then see the professionalism he brought back here when he returned.

?All the professional guys really brought something different to the national team when they came back, their attitude, the way they played, the way they approached the games, it was always enjoyable to be around that.

?When these guys go out on the pitch, they do so with a sense of purpose that it is hard to reproduce here, they go out there and score a goal and it?s like ?that?s my job, that?s what I do for living? ? it is a whole different approach to the game.

?It?s something that I had when I was at Charlotte and I try and instil into the players at Village, although it is hard to get them to play that way when they are only amateurs.

?There is a lot to be said for sending players abroad, particularly with the youngsters, it can make a massive difference to them and their team-mates.?

The powerful and dominating goalkeeper greatly enjoyed his time with Bermuda, the highlight being the 1992 World Cup qualifiers when the Island team, that included the likes of Goater, Kenny Thompson and David Bascome, reached the second stage of the campaign.

Although away at school at the time, Adams returned for matches and was delighted to see the nation swept up in football euphoria ? an experience he, like so many others, believes was never fully exploited.

?Those were good times,? said Adams, who made more than 60 appearances for Bermuda at senior level before giving it all up two years ago.

?We were playing regularly and we were winning. There was a great team spirit then and the people were getting behind us. I remember coming back home and it was all anyone was talking about, people were excited, they held rallies, everyone was getting excited about it.

?But for some reason we never took the football programme on from there. That would have been the time to really make the most of our success and to raise our level even higher to become one of the stronger teams in the region.

?Somehow, the opposite happened. Over the years we have been beaten by some teams that we shouldn?t have and never really took things forward.

?You can?t expect footballers to perform when there is so little preparation.?

Adams, although happy to admit he is new to coaching compared to others, still believes he has ideas that could help bring the national team forward.

?What we need is players to be in better shape and training more regularly so that they are in a better position to make the most of their opportunities when the international matches do come around,? he stated, with the furrowed brow of a player clearly frustrated with a programme he was involved with for so many years.

?The players should have individual fitness programmes to be working with all year round, either on their own or with others at the various fitness centres around the Island.

?They need to be training regularly and also getting together at least once a month ? even when there are no matches scheduled ? to work on specific tactics or moves.

?It is the only way the team can move forward ? and we would still be reliant on the powers that be organising more matches.?

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Adams also mentioned that one of the greatest benefits for the next generation of players would be going to college abroad ? ?and a chance to get an education and make the most of themselves as footballers and men?.