squad tour Europe next year.

Bermuda's Director of coaching, Clyde Best, shared this view with the players and their parents during a meeting on Tuesday evening -- and both he and Aldwyn Savery, tour manager of the team during the recent Junior World Cup qualifying tournament in Trinidad and Tobago, agreed that the response was quite favourable.

"It's vital that we keep the members of the team active. One thing that puzzles me since I have returned home to coach is that we put the kids up on a burner and we take them down, we can't continue to do that. It's not healthy for the soccer environment. If you want them to get better you have got to let them play all of the time,'' said Best.

"I think it is important that we try and keep this team together. Yes, we met with the parents. We discussed some plans about what we want to do and they are very supportive about our plans.

"It keeps them out of trouble, it keeps them occupied, it keeps them involved and more importantly it keeps them heading towards a goal in their lives.'' Although the team only just failed to advance to the next round, Best believes that they acquitted themselves well enough to command attention and support for further assistance in their development.

Best has hopes of getting the team out of Bermuda by next Easter, hopefully to England where he has lots of contacts from his professional stint with West Ham United. A number of former colleagues are involved with top clubs, including former team-mate Harry Redknapp who is the current manager of West Ham.

But Best has not ruled out travelling to other European countries to visit clubs such as Ajax and Feyenoord, for whom he also played briefly in the 1970s.

"Getting them to these countries will give me a really good chance to look at them play against some really top-class competition, boys of their own age who can play good soccer,'' said Best.

"Then I will be able to see what the future is going to be like for them, and I think it is important,'' he said.

"Like I have said in the past, we have always scratched from the bottom of the barrel, we were never able to get to the top because of a lack of preparations. You can't continue to go playing international soccer by just playing local teams at home.

"You have to find out what the unknown is going to be like, what the competition is going to be like overseas. You are only going to become a better player by playing against better players.'' While stopping short of admitting that lack of international exposure led to the team's ouster in Trinidad and Tobago, he did admit that it did play a role in preventing them from adjusting and playing at a sustained high level.

Bermuda players, he noted, are accustomed to playing a game and then having several days off before playing again, but in the World Cup qualifiers they had to play back-to-back matches and that was unique for them.

"We are not use to playing within 24 hours, we are used to having a long rest between games. But we have to get our players used to the fact that you might only have 24 hours' rest in tournaments and you have to deal with it. It's a big step for our players who are not used to doing that, and the only way you get used to it is by playing in tournaments like the recent one,'' he said.

Best realises that lack of funding has prevented many teams from getting the chance to travel and become more exposed, but he hoped to see the day when funding will not be a factor.

"Funding has always been a big problem here in the Island from the days when I came up. But we have to come to terms with it. If we want the mountain for our players and we want to reach the mountain, then we have to give them a fair chance. Anyone that says different doesn't know what they are talking about.'' Savery, who is also vice-president of the BFA, said that the association is supportive of a move that calls for plans to be enforced that will assist in the further development of the team.

He said: "We were quite impressed with the demeanour of this particular team of players in Trinidad and Tobago, their performance both on and off the field was phenomenal.

"We plan to keep them together so that they will be able to graduate to form the core of the under-19 level, and with the parents responding well to our plans the future does indeed look fine.

"The parents have shown an interest in becoming involved in raising funding for a trip to Europe next year which is a good sign. It's a good programme that we are striving to implement because it includes more than just soccer.

It will also call for the players engaging in extra class work so that they will be assisted in their personal development while on tour.

"Hopefully by combining the two we can get better commitment from the players with both the standard of their soccer and their academic life benefitting.''