Eleven of the Island's aspiring young soccer players have been offered the chance of a lifetime.

With Government having recently passed legislation allowing Bermudians to apply for UK passports, a local contingent are now due to fly out on Thursday for soccer trials with English giants West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth and Manchester United.

Damon Swan, Dion Stovell and Domico Coddington have all been invited to attend trials at West Ham, while Takehyi Walker, Trevor Smith, Jason Dill and Shannon DeShield are off to Middlesbrough.

Raymond Beach and Dennis Russell will also attempt to impress the coaching staff at Tottenham, while Stephen Astwood will be involved in trials at Portsmouth.

Under-17 national player Angelo Simmons - who will play for Bermuda in the International Youth Tournament starting at the National Sports Centre tomorrow evening - will be put through his paces later next month at Old Trafford with Manchester United.

All of the trials will be over a period of 15 days.

For Astwood this will be his third bite at the cherry, having previously been involved in trials with both Preston and earlier this year with Scottish side Livingston.

With the start of the new English season just around the corner, senior national coach Mark Trott, who has been instrumental in securing the trials along with Clyde Best and Paul Scope, assured all of the players that the task at hand would be "no stroll in the park".

"These guys are under no illusions," said Trott, speaking yesterday. "It will be very difficult and there's a one percent chance that somebody's going to be successful.

"So one out of 11 will be a success, and if you talk to anyone of these guys, in their own minds they all believe that they will be successful."

It was disclosed yesterday that former local distance runners Wayne Bean and Ronue Cann had been involved in getting the local players fit during intense training sessions along the South Shore sand dunes.

And Trott also thanked fellow coaches Andrew Bascome, Anthony Raynor and professional David Bascome for assisting the youngsters in their preparation.

He also had praise for local sponsors Belco, HWP, Bermuda Motors, Cable & Wireless and the players' various clubs.

Scope explained: "Clyde's (Best) contacts definitely opened the door for us and it was really coming in anticipation of the law that these boys can now apply for UK passports.

"We knew that law was likely to be changed in the summer and so we are just delighted to have received the sponsorship to get them over there.

"They all have a great opportunity because the football clubs in England now are thrilled that Bermudians don't have to go through the work permit route and that they now have another source available to them."