New youth tournament named in honour of Best
The tournament will be held in conjunction with the US-based Elite Tournaments and has received the support from the Bermuda Football Association.
“The tournament which will be held on February 17 and 18 next year and will pit 12 quality youth teams from the US east coast against local national select squads in three age brackets — Under-13, Under-14 and Under-15,” said Calderon adding, “all the games will be staged at the National Sports Centre, utilising the main stadium field along with the two north fields.”
Best, who is a Mid-Ocean News sports columnist, said yesterday: “We need to improve the standard of play and by bringing in these quality teams from the US it can only help our youngsters. The more we can play against international opposition the better our young players will get.”Calderon agreed saying: “The motivation behind creating this event is to improve our football. Our youth teams must be exposed to quality-international competition on a regular basis. One only needs to look at recent international results to appreciate the importance of tournaments such as these. Additionally, as the tournament will be staged in Bermuda with all teams responsible for their air, hotel rooms and food and beverage, there are multiple benefits. Hotels will receive guests in what is typically the slow tourism month and our national select teams will receive quality opposition at no cost to the BFA. And the fans will get to see our youth on a stage at no cost. Entrance to all games will be free although we will seeking donations which will be put against future youth football initiatives.”
Mike Libber, president of Elite Tournaments, said that when he was approached by the BFF to coordinate this event he saw the opportunity to have an international tournament that would not only benefit the teams from Bermuda but also give the US-based teams a chance to play in an international arena without having to travel across the Atlantic to Europe. “The teams from the US jumped at the chance to travel to Bermuda at this time of the year,” he said.
Elite Tournaments have been in business for over six years and currently have 14 events under their management, ranging from small-sided tournaments to college showcases, which are specifically for teams that have college-bound student athletes looking to play at the university level. In fact, the Dandy Town Under-18 team have been accepted to play in their November event in Maryland which historically attracts an average of 75 university and college football coaches looking for new recruits.
The level of the teams involved are of a high standard, said Libber. “We have three Olympic Development teams (ODP) from Connecticut and three other teams that are state champions.”
He added that fans should keep their eye out for the Lower Merion team from the Philadelphia area as they were regional champions two years ago.
Richard Calderon of the BFF said: “We have made considerable progress since we began planning the event back in April of this year. We can’t thank the management of the Grotto Bay Resort and The Fairmount Southampton enough, for their generous support and in particular, the attractive room rates extended to the visiting teams and families. This allowed us to be competitive (price wise) with tournaments staged in Florida. We are projecting a group of 350 to 400 people to visit Bermuda for this tournament to include players, coaches, family, referees and Elite Tournaments staff.”
The teams arrive in Bermuda on February 16 with games scheduled for the following two days.
Games will start at 8 a.m. and run through to 6 p.m. on both days. There will be a banquet for the visitors and local teams and guests on Saturday, February 17.
Calvin Blankendall, the BFA’s Chairman of Youth Football said of the tournament: “The BFA Youth Committee is pleased to know that the Clyde Best International Youth Tournament will take place in February, 2007. The committee and affiliates have worked hard to ensure that Bermuda has a multitude of youth players who can represent our island. We look forward to this event and will assist the Bermuda Football Foundation wherever possible”.
And Mark Trott, the newly installed Chairman of the BFA’s Technical Committee, was also very upbeat about the new tournament. He said: “The inaugural Clyde Best Youth Football Tournament hopefully will become the launching pad for a number of positive youth football initiatives this season and one event the Technical Committee sees as an essential element in establishing a strong foundation for youth football.
“This event along with others that we hope to see established in conjunction with groups such as the BFF can be nothing but a very positive addition to our youth program. It will allow us to bring together national select teams at the Under-13, Under-14 and Under-15 levels to compete against overseas competition. It will allow us to gauge the progress our young players are making during the course of the season and seasons to come. It also allows us to establish a group of national staff coaches and give youth coaches something to aspire to outside of their club teams. And finally, the event gives our young players a tangible goal to aspire to similar to Diadora Cup when it was up and running. It is hoped that we will see players from our grassroots level go on to establish themselves at the various youth international levels and then one day, move into the senior national team.”
When asked why Clyde Best’s name was attached to the tournament, Richard Calderon stated that he couldn’t think of any other person more appropriate. “Best’s name has international recognition and resonates throughout the United States as he not only played there but went on to coach a few very talented US youth teams, which produced several former and current US National Team players. Besides, Clyde is one of the good guys!” said Calderon.
New youth tournament in 2007
