soccer team who drew high praise after their narrow failure to reach the next stage of the World Youth Cup.

Players and their parents last night met with officials from Bermuda Football Association to discuss ways of keeping the youngsters together as a unit.

Last week, the boys returned from Trinidad and Tobago, where they did the Island proud, on and off the pitch.

Bermuda's coaching supremo Clyde Best felt the boys could have done even better with more match practice under their belts and ways of providing that were on last night's agenda.

CONCACAF officials have lavished praise on the attitude of the party, who behaved impeccably throughout the tour and even found time to get in some serious school work.

David Sabir, the BFA's General Secretary and head of the delegation, returned at the weekend after an extended stay and commented on the recognition and praise that the team had received.

"We were having a full classroom session and the General Secretary from the Caribbean Football Union and CONCACAF, Harold Taylor, was amazed at Bermuda for deciding it was more beneficial to do something constructive like school work than to run out and see the country,'' said Sabir.

"We set out to have team meetings to discuss the importance of school work, preparation for life and had other motivational talks. We had five sessions on work given to the boys by their teachers.'' And Sabir was thrilled that there were no incidents of misbehaviour -- a problem which has plagued national teams in the past, both on and off the field.

Though Sabir said he never expected problems, he said it was a blessing when a group of young players could travel abroad for an extended period without causing any trouble.

"As team officials, we were impressed with the manner in which our players behaved themselves, the manner in which they represented Bermuda,'' said Sabir.

"We all should be proud as this was acknowledged throughout the entire tournament. Mr Taylor went further by appealing to the rest of the teams to take a page out of Bermuda's behaviour manual which was an example to all youth teams.'' The positive news delighted the team's sponsors the Bank of Bermuda and the BFA.

David Lang of the Bank of Bermuda, who was among the delegation that met the players when they arrived home, said: "I think the team has to be very highly commended for not only playing soccer at a high level, but for demonstrating sportsmanship and good manners. All of that behaviour is a great credit to Bermuda and to football generally.'' BFA president Neville Tyrrell said he wasn't surprised about what the team had achieved both on and off the field of play.

"When we found out that some of them needed extra school work and could not afford to lose time from classes, we made an agreement with the Department of Education that they would have a period of study when they were away,'' said Tyrrell. "I understand the tour went smoothly and CONCACAF officials were surprised because school work among players doesn't usually happen. But we had a responsibility. I've always said that academics come first.

"I'm not surprised the team got this sort of praise. There are a lot of little things we have to do to be a little bit better in our image -- you can't get into our squad unless you are up to the benchmark we set for certain things.''