Two of the Island's national youth teams savoured glory at the National Sports Centre over the weekend as the youngsters took centre stage during the inaugural Clyde Best Invitational Youth Tournament.

Bermuda's Under-13 and Under-14 national teams emerged victorious over Commack SC United and Commack Fire respectively, while the Island's Under-15 squad placed a creditable third in their age group.

Tournament organiser Robert Calderon yesterday dubbed the Invitational as a "smashing success" and revealed that the event could be hosted alternately by Bermuda and the US in the future.

Hundreds of fans braved cool and windy conditions to come out and support the Island's young players.

"Despite the weather conditions, it was a successful weekend while the general consensus from the visiting teams and local coaches suggest they thoroughly enjoyed the tournament," Calderon said. "Clearly there were one or two teams out of their depth, but in general the quality was good."

And talent-wise he reckons Bermuda's football future is a bright one.

"We have real talent at these age brackets and it will be interesting to watch their development," Calderon said. "And I have to believe that all of the coaches and players involved walked away from the experience with many positives."

Calderon said plans for next year's event were already on the drawing board, with overseas participants having expressed a desire to expand the tournament's various age groups to accommodate more teams.

In addition to potentially staging the tournament — honouring former West Ham striker Clyde Best — overseas, event organisers have also contemplated sending local youth players abroad to play with US outfit Reading Rage and inviting Super-Y League teams and Olympic Development Plan (ODP) women's teams to compete.

Best said it was a "privilege" and an "honour" to have a tournament named after him.

"The tournament was fantastic and I'm actually over the moon because all of the overseas teams want to return next year," he added. "And hopefully more of our kids here in Bermuda will also come and participate next year.

"It's always an honour and a privilege to have something named in your honour. And I look forward to seeing even more teams compete next year."

Bermuda's Under-13 team, coached by Dennis Brown, Winston Trott jr and Troy Lewis, thumped Commack SC United 8-0.

"We went into the tournament confident, but not overconfident. And we always we knew we had the talent," Brown said. "The players trained very hard and met all of the demands we placed on them.

"I think this was a great learning experience for the kids, and I would definitely like to see the tournament continue."

Kashi Davis, Tre Ming and Zeiko Lewis led the rout with two goals apiece for Bermuda, while Walter Webb and Willie Clements also got their names on the scoresheet.

Bermuda were also victorious in the Under 14 age bracket, defeating Commack Fire 6-1 in the final. Under-14 coach Mark Wade, who was assisted by Ray Jones, reckoned his young charges would have gained valuable experience from the tournament.

"Hopefully it will continue to grow because it does have lots of potential," he said. "It's also great to see us recognising Bermudians (Best) while they are still living so they too can appreciate the experience."

In terms of his team's success, Wade noted: "Our players all came from solid club football programmes. And as coaches our job was really to try and get them to gel so that their talents complemented each other."

Jason Lee, Dante Leverock, Dejon Duclos, Zhakie Iris, Deunte Darrell and Jaylon Bather all contributed to the team's convincing win.

Bermuda's Under-15 team, coached by Scott Morton and Maurice Lowe, finished third in their group after defeating Hockessin Clash 4-0 in the consolation final.

Trundae Darrell led the scoring for the Island team, netting a brace, while Terryn Fray, and Rieko Trott also managed to hit the target.

Merion Velez, meanwhile, clinched the Under-15 crown after recording a 2-0 win over CT Junior Soccer.