Dear sir,

As a young boy growing up in Devonshire, Bermuda, I had been blessed with good role models in the area of sport and life.

At the Devonshire Recreation club, as a young boy I was blessed to be a part of something very special. In the area of cricket and football, Devonshire had a tremendous amount of talent.

Among the talent were local cricket greats that were not only good sportsmen but good leaders that had a love for helping young people. The same can be said for the football programme. I learned a great deal about sport and life from this local social club.

In the area of cricket there were the likes of Winston 'Coe' Trott, Lionel Thomas, Gladstone 'Sad' Brown, MacDonald 'Bull' Swan and a young Donald Norford of whom I consider to this day as a big brother. We also cannot forget that great wicket-keeper Barry DeCouto.

These were men that taught me lessons in the beautiful game of cricket and in life. They were good role models and great cricket players who made a difference in the local sport.

Mr. Trott, Mr. Brown, Barry DeCouto and Mr. Thomas have played in the Cup Match classic and have represented Bermuda in the ICC cricket tournament. In other words, they were local superstars.

But even with all this going on, they still had time for us young boys in the neighbourhood. They would stay behind after cricket practice and help us brush up on our game.

The cricketers at the Rec. gave us gear and always encouraged us to work hard in practice to become better cricket players.

I remember one afternoon, club officials had arranged for us to have a practice session with the great Sir Garfield Sobers! Wow! I will never forget that as long as I live.

There were about ten of us youngsters being taught this great game by the best all-rounder of our time. What an experience!

To shake his hand - the same hand that took the wickets of such greats as Alan Knott, Geoff Boycott - was just too much. He was a kind and humble man who did not mind giving of his time to us young people. This made a big difference in my life.

At Devonshire, there were older members who took money out of their pockets to give us young players gear and the best that the club had to offer.

Charles 'Boxcard' Norford, a former Pondhill Stars' cricket great was always very encouraging when it came to helping young people.

To all of these men, I say "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart for giving me good lessons, not only in cricket but in life as well.

In respect of the big ball, the club had a lot to offer also. Devonshire Rec. had some of the best coaches in Carlton 'Pepe' Dill, the late Randy Benjamin and who can forget coach Winston Martin; a great footballer in his time? Let us not forget Winston 'Coe' Trott who played and coached at national level.

I remember when the New York Cosmos visited Devonshire Rec. To meet Franz Beckenbauer and to get a hug from Brazilian legend Carlos Alberto was awesome. I still have the green No. 5 Cosmos shirt.

Our coach Randy Benjamin wanted more for us and stressed education. He worked hard to get us out of here to attend college and university. He pushed us and I am grateful. Coach MacDonald 'Bull' Swan and his lovely wife helped me, on a personal level, to attend university.

As I have said, I was truly blessed and for that I thank everyone who helped me.

In conclusion, I say parents must invest in young people. They are the future. Each summer I have the honour of working at various soccer camps with many talented young people. They will go a long way but parents need to manage their affairs and make sure they are on track from early and stay on track.

You have to work with your child - as a team - especially when it comes to picking schools and checking what awards and scholarships they qualify for.

Having said that, I want to wish all the young Bermudians, venturing off the Island to study in the next few weeks, well in their endeavours.

Mark 'Burger' Jennings