Bermuda’s Caelin Peters is starting to earn recognition as a top collegiate basketball prospect in the United States.

The 16-year-old, who has represented Bermuda’s youth national teams, moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2016 to pursue his dream of playing professionally.

His dream took him to Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School, a perennial basketball powerhouse in the state.

Last year, the Plymouth-Whitemarsh Colonials started the season 27-0, making their way into the national rankings, which saw all five of the team’s starters getting scholarship offers to play college basketball. During that season, Peters’s opportunities were limited minutes as the only sophomore on a varsity roster loaded with nine seniors.

As a rising junior, Peters was looking for the opportunity to prove himself.

Last weekend, Temple University hosted its annual team camp, which brings together a couple dozen local high school teams — as well as a few top AAU [Amateur Athletic Union] teams — for high-level local hoops. The event attracts local media and scouts, along with Temple University coaches, Fran Dunphy and Aaron McKie, who want to take a first look at the areas best high school players. With his sophomore season behind him, Peters was given the task of running the team from the point guard position as a rising junior.

Peters’s PW team played four games during the weekend event, with their first game was against defending state champion Roman Catholic High School.

He ended the game against Roman with 15 points and a half dozen assists but more importantly he walked away with the respect of media and scouts.

“The rising junior looked the part this weekend,” wrote Josh Verlin. the editor of the City of Basketball Love website.

National recruiter Clarence “Chick” Gillespie of the Phenom Hoops Report tweeted: “If I had to pick one player who has made a huge improvement from Soph to Junior season I’d have to go with Caelin Peters from P-W. From floor game to shot selection he’s certainly attracted attention.”

Peters continued his solid play the rest of the weekend in games against Baltimore Polytechnical High School, of Maryland), Team Speed, of New Jersey, and St Georges Tech, of Delaware.

In the game against Team Speed, Peters scored most of his 12 first-half points on mid-range jump shots off the dribble, finishing with 18 points. In the final game against St Georges, Peters finished the game with 15 points. Peters has received a phone call from Lafayette College, of the NCAA Division 1, expressing an interest in watching him play this month and in his junior season.

He has also received invitations to attend elite prospect camps from Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3 schools, including Bucknell University, Drexel University, University of Pennsylvania, Holy Cross College, and University of California San Diego. Should Peters earn a Division 1 scholarship, he would be the first player born and raised in Bermuda to accomplish the feat.