Although this month marks a time when one season ends and another begins, our two national sports are entering a weekend which could prove to be a watershed for both football and cricket.

Tonight Bermuda Hogges (aka the national team) make their debut in the Premier Development League (PDL), a competition of a slightly lesser standard than the USL Division II in which they played last season, and earlier in the day the national cricket team make a rare appearance on local soil in the first of a series of matches in the Americas Championship.

While neither coaches nor players like to hear the word 'pressure', that's exactly what they find themselves under this weekend and the days following.

The learning curve we have heard so much about as national teams have attempted to improve has now almost completed a full circle.

In fairness, the teams representing Bermuda today, tomorrow, Sunday and throughout next week are made up of mostly young players, but that's the case almost throughout the world. There are numerous countries where teenagers and those in their early twenties make up the bulk of their country's national squad (take Ireland's cricket team as an example).

Hogges' games tonight and Sunday against Reading United at BAA Field should be an indication of whether the tactics and training methods of Derek Broadley – Bermuda Football Association's (BFA) technical director – have worked.

It's the first time in Bermuda that he's come under any pressure.

If the players can't perform successfully at this level then questions will be asked over his ability and that of his players, who ostensibly represent the best in Bermuda football.

It's years since the national team have played a full international – the reason why they have now disappeared from the world rankings – after BFA declared their intent to abandon the senior players and concentrate on those who represent the future.

For all intents and purposes, Hogges are the national team.

How they perform should provide a barometer of where Bermuda stand in terms of regional quality.

And much the same applies to the cricket team, who recently returned from a tour of Namibia without a single win under their belt. It was a familiar tale on previous tours.

Their squad, with the return of Janeiro Tucker and the retention of David Hemp, Irving Romaine and Stephen Outerbridge, appears to have a better blend of youth and experience.

But like the footballers, they still have an awful lot to prove. And while coach David Moore is relatively new on the scene he, much like Broadley, will want to show that in the few weeks he's been here, his presence has made a difference.

No matter what happens off the field, ultimately it's the players who have to demonstrate whatever they've been taught has been absorbed and put into effect on the field.

It hasn't happened in the past. Ask Gus Logie.

And the public are getting impatient.

A good crowd is expected to attend tonight's Hogges season opener at BAA and the game on Sunday. But anything less than an impressive performance, win or lose, will guarantee that many of those same fans won't be returning for subsequent home games.

Similarly, the Americas cricket tournament, in which Bermuda play Argentina, Bahamas, Caymans, Canada and USA in both the 50-overs and Twenty20 format, should attract of plenty of support.

This being a rare occasion when cricket fans get chance to support their own national team, one would hope that crowds would be ten times larger than those who attend domestic league games, maybe even match those who flock to County games and Cup Match.

But that will only happen if Bermuda beat the so-called regional minnows, Bahamas, Argentina and Caymans in their opening games which will set up a showdown against more formidable opponents, Canada and USA, at the end of the tournament.

These days, pressure is the name of the game. Let's see over the next week how they handle it.

– ADRIAN ROBSON