Bermuda Football Association (BFA) has backed Government's ambitious proposal to transform existing infrastructure at the former US military base on Cooper's Island into mini-centres of excellence and hostels capable of accommodating incoming and local athletes.

James has yet to divulge specific details of the proposed development at Cooper's Island but has peaked the interest of the BFA who met with the Minister to discuss the association's revised strategic plan.

"The idea is to develop as many top facilities on the island as possible," James said. "It makes no sense to develop our young athletes and coaches if our facilities are not up to standard."

During a meeting earlier this month with a BFA delegation James advised that his Ministry was "considering a number of initiatives for Cooper's Island, which would benefit both the national sports of cricket and football".

"I think Bermuda is ideally situated to become a sporting Mecca because we have the facilities here that we can turn into sports academies," James said.

BFA president, Richard Calderon, believes any development that would be of benefit to domestic football is certainly a step in the right direction and as such has "embraced" Government's concept in principle.

"The BFA is more interested in the proposal to convert an existing building at Cooper's Island to a hostel that would house incoming and local sports teams," he said.

"This initiative would significantly reduce the cost of accommodating incoming tours and enable – not only the national association teams to plan and execute international events on a more frequent and cost effective basis – but would also provide the avenue for local club teams to establish initiatives that would positively influence other areas of programme development for their teams and players."

Earlier this week James announced that Government are to redistribute ten percent of cricket and football's annual grant towards the transformation of White Hill Field into a multi-purpose sports complex capable of hosting one-day international (ODI) cricket matches.

During a recent press conference at the Sandy's venue, James declared "the sky was the limit" for White Hill Field which Government intend to use as an alternative site to the National Sports Centre (NSC) where elite athletes in all sports can combine training and playing with academics.

James has long advocated the development of "various sports academies" in Bermuda, as well as the implementation of a strategic national training programme for aspiring athletes.

"I think that a national programme would make a positive impact on the whole community, and needless to say help put us on the international map," he said.