SIXTEEN young male footballers will set off next week for a tour of US college preparatory high schools in Connecticut with the hope of securing full or partial scholarships.

Richard Calderon, secretary of the Bermuda Football Foundation, will be manager of the group while Richard Todd will be the coach and Calderon said this week: "We're thrilled that we have supportive groups like the Bank of Bermuda Foundation and CD&P who clearly grasp the importance of marrying sports with education and have seen through the work done with South Kent and most recently with the Hotchkiss School tangible evidence that this does work.

"In our attempt to broaden the network of opportunities for young men and women we sought and received assistance from the coaches at Hotchkiss and South Kent and we were successful In providing this fully sponsored opportunity for 16 young men.

"We make no promises, but based on recent successes we feel reasonably confident that some of these boys will be heading off to one of the 10 schools involved In this venture in the Fall of 2009."

Calderon said that it was hoped that this will be an annual event.

"In the end it is just another incentive for young men and women to produce both in the classroom and on the field," he added.

The group of boys are Troy Tucker, Anthony Hunter, Aaron Nelson, Dante Leverock, Kashi Davis, Aaron Simons, Chris Godfrye, Naquon Smith, Naeem Griffith, Shannon Burchall, Dashun Butterfield,.Ercio Outerbridge, Shaki Trott, Shaquille Trott, Corey Richardson and Quadir Maynard.

They come from Saltus, Berkeley Institute, Seventh Day Adventist, CedarBridge and Warwick Academy and they will be visiting Hotchkiss School. Westminster, Millbrook, Kent, South Kent, Forman, Salisbury and Berkshire.