YOUNG executives Calvin Blankendal and Gershon Gibbons and a small team of dedicated members have proved to be a winning combination at Western Stars Sports Club.

Exactly a year since being elected into office, the ambitious duo have restored hope at the once embattled club by demonstrating the heights that can be reached with a little foresight, dedicated staff and sacrifice.

The result? A safer, sanitised and thriving community-oriented facility which places special emphasis on the development of well-rounded "citizens" and not solely upon producing successful athletes.

Mr. Blankendal, who is president of the Western Stars Sports Club, is employed at G-Trade in the capacity of New Accounts Administrator while Mr. Gibbons, a management trainee at the Government Accountant General's Offices, serves as vice-president of the St. John's Road club.

Both men, aged 30, represented Dandy Town at the youth level while Mr. Gibbons remains actively involved in local sports as a defender for Premier Division club Devonshire Colts and a useful all-rounder for Western Stars during the summer months.

Mr. Blankendal, who studied at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK, says it has always been a personal goal of his to return and give something back to both his childhood club and community.

"Someone had to lead the club. It was in disarray and we were having a bad time with management and the club as a whole wasn't progressing and our teams, apart from Western Stars, weren't excelling," recalled Mr. Blankendal, a Dutch national by birth whose mother is Bermudian.

"At that time Gershon (Gibbons) and myself, Shawnette Perot, Dwayne Talbot and Lloyd Christopher ? on a very cold night with not much members in attendance ? decided to take on the future of the club and to save it from being taken away from us."

As it turned out, Mr. Blankendal and his administration had inherited more than their share of troubles.

"We knew no renovations were being done and our lease agreement (with Government) was due at the end of April of that year (2002)," he continued. "But due to mismanagement at the club at that time, various things were overlooked and so we more or less inherited a club in disarray."

One of the first objectives the new administration set out to meet was the implementation of a five-point plan with an overview of further implementing charitable schemes and a scholarship fund for future athletes at the club.

And if everything remained on course, those plans would soon come to "full fruition", Mr. Blankendal said.

He added: "Our first priority was not sports-based. We had a mandate from Government to repair the club or else it would be taken away from us. For the first six months we were involved in negotiations with Government and trying to improve our facility."

Some of the fruits of that labour can already be seen at the clubhouse.

"We've been able to do basic repairs like replacing old windows and painting, which is really nothing to shout about. But it has allowed us to keep our club," said Mr. Blankendal, ecstatic to see his club receive another extension on its lease from Government.

"But we will be doing additional renovations at the club in the New Year and hopefully we can continue to meet Government's objectives and guidelines. That's the objective of the club and we have to be professional," he added.

Mr. Blankendal said club administrators tended to forget they had a commitment to their fellow members, communities and children.

"Once you come into office you have to make sure you notify others of your actions, express your ideas and allow other people to convey their thoughts and work together. It's not a one-man club. And thus far, we have been able to assemble a winning team. But I believe this team can go even further if we continue to listen to each other and incorporate many ideas that we have," he said.

He also encouraged the club's current membership to play a more active role.

"We definitely need more input from them. We currently have six or seven hard-working individuals which is still insufficient to run a club," he said.

"Some of them are doing multiple tasks, therefore without the support of our members that are willing to come out and get dirty, give advice or stand at the gate, we will remain far from being the club that we could be and should be."

And clubs, he says, have a significant role to play in the community.

"I believe our club has become the unofficial community club of the Pembroke West area embracing many males and females.

"Many young people, of all races and gender, would be out there on the streets if our club wasn't being run on an operational status," he said.

The new administration has also had to face the challenges of illicit drug use taken place on the club's premises.

"Another of our first commitments was to improve the facility to show those who were engaging in any negative activity that they had to clean up their acts because we were cleaning up ours. We have to be cordial to those who visit our club and to those who just come down to frequent and use the facilities in any manner they wish.

"Our policy is to show those individuals that we have changed and as the club changes, you must also change."

Already, Mr. Blankendal has seen a "considerable" decline in drug use in or around the club's premises.

He explained: "Our policy is to educate first and to remind, and the last measure would be to bring in an outside source because we believe we can control ourselves.

"If this doesn't work, then we won't hesitate to go the powers that be because the Western Stars Sports Club must adhere to the Bermuda Football Association, Bermuda Cricket Board and to the rules of the Bermuda Government.

"A lot of work has been achieved in a short time, but we still have a long way to go and cannot afford to become complacent."

Mr. Gibbons, meanwhile, backs his fellow executive colleague to the hilt.

"We do have many plans, and one of our objectives is to create better citizens and not just sports people," he said.

"Sports is an outlet in this island to get over a lot of other obstacles and it's just a matter of letting the powers that be realise that sports is very important and financial backing is needed in order to progress out of the state we are presently in."

Mr. Gibbons, a graduate of America International College, said sport and Bermudian society in general had changed drastically.

"We need as a people to understand and remember we are no longer living in the '60s or '70s. This is the year 2003 and money does have an influence on what happens. And from our point of view, cleaning up our act is going to give us a way of being able to sell ourselves as a product," he said.

"Even though we are amateurs, we have to go to the next level because the young players today are working extremely hard and put a lot of effort into the game. And that is a lot to ask of people for them not to receive anything."