Spend a few minutes talking to Kenny Thompson about football and you will be be left with no doubt about his passion and vision for the game in Bermuda.

The Bermuda Football Association's Director of Youth Development is coming to the end of his first year in the post, and while the former Bermuda international midfielder saw himself in such a post ten years ago, he also knew the magnitude of the task of restoring the Island's national sport to its former glory.

It won't be an easy task raising the standard of the game on the Island after a decade in decline. Neither is it something he can do alone. But if the 38-year-old did not think he was up to it he would not have left his job as a PE Teacher at CedarBridge Academy.

"It was a pretty easy decision to make, it was something I had planned over ten years ago, to be in a position of director of youth football in Bermuda," said the deep thinking Mr.Thompson.

"I set out to plan how I would be in a position to take an opportunity if it presented itself. It's something I always had planned, keeping in mind also that at that time there was really no talk of a full time youth director. So a part of the plan also was what would I do and could I do if it didn't materialise."

Ten years ago Thompson was finishing up a degree at Howard University and was also part of the Bermuda team that enjoyed a good run in the qualifying stages under national coach Gary Darrell.

"When I participated in the World Cup qualification in 1992 with Bermuda I had already started my coaching education," Thompson pointed out.

"I had already coached Somerset Eagles in the Second Division and I was coach of the Somerset (Trojans) under-18 team at the time. So as a player I was already looking beyond my playing days to positions such as coaching and administration in football.

"All of the requirements and prerequisites for the job I had already met as a result of the long term planning education programme that I had been through."

Thompson recognises that in order for the standard of the game to return to a high level locally, emphasis must be placed on the youth leagues. It is where he is happy to concentrate his energies.

"Looking long term, youth football is very important, and if we're looking to improve the national team then the quality and well planned work must be done in youth football," the director stressed.

"Youth football is very important if we are to realise our ambition of putting together a high quality senior national team that can compete at a high level."

Recently an article in The Royal Gazette sports section highlighted Bermuda's decline from a high 76th position in the world in 1993 to its current position of 173rd out of just over 200 countries around the world.

From that position Thompson knows there is only one way to go - up. It will call for a tremendous investment, he warns, if the country is to rise from those depths.

"It's important that we understand that on the world stage, financial investment and coach education investments are made," he said.

"In order to produce top football players who are able to perform consistently on an optimal level, this takes anywhere between eight to 12 years, so it goes without saying for me the most important work is in youth football development.

"It's a little bit sad when I think back to a young boy watching First Division football and see that club facilities haven't changed that much. Many of the club facilities I attended as a ten-year-old look pretty much the same now in terms of overall infrastructure."

Thompson's initial contract is for three years, by which time he hopes to have done enough to be offered another chance to continue in the post.

"I certainly feel that the work required will take more than three years, but it's important that from the Bermuda Football Association's standpoint that the association is protected in terms of how long it gives a person a contract," said Thompson who started the job on May 1, 2002.

"I think three years for an initial contract is fair for the association and for me as well. We've done a lot of work behind the scenes and also in a practical sense of improving football in Bermuda.

"The year has been a very progressive year. Of course we would like to see things happen at a much faster rate, but it is important that we are able to look back and say progress has been made. I believe we have made progress.

"We have raised the profile of youth competitions and a lot of credit there must go to our main sponsor, Appleby Spurling and Kempe, for its contribution to raising the profile of youth football in local competitions."

A National Team Academy has been set up for the three youth divisions (under 13, under 15 and under 17) where there are some 70 players being prepared to move through the national team system.

"And we are already identifying players in the under 11 category," said Thompson.

"Enthusiasm of the players is fantastic and the motivation level is high. One of the areas we need to work much harder on is coach education, which is very, very important to me and to the Bermuda Football Association. If we are to improve the quality of the players then we must improve the quality of the coaches, it's that simple.

"Without that we're only hoping a player develops naturally from street football. In a country like ours that is so small, you are only going to get less than a handful of real talents like that. The rest will come with a certain level of potential that must be guided through quality instruction."

To ensure the coaches are better qualified, the association put on its first youth coaching certificate, with ten coaches due to receive their certificates very soon.

"I was disappointed that we only had ten coaches take part in this programme," said Thompson who has six coaches under him at the national level.

"Three, maybe four of the coaches, are parents who were interested in getting some information on coaching should they be a coach in the future. We're talking about 95 per cent of the coaching that are currently coaching youth football who have no coaching certification.

"It's important that we, the Bermuda Football Association, convince the coaches that it is important for them to raise their level in order to raise the level of the players."

He says the person who gets into coaching and is only looking for "high profile type positions really is not in it for the right reasons.

"It should not be the reason why one decides to go into coaching," advises Thompson, whom many thought would have been an idea candidate when the senior national post was recently advertised. He doesn't rule out seeking that post one day, but it won't be in the immediate future as there is much to be done at the youth level first.

"I've coached at the senior level at various clubs and it's absolutely amazing the level of some of the players. It is almost like having to go back to the very beginning (basics) with senior players," he says.

"Any coach who has coached at senior level certainly understands the need for well planned quality work at youth level. With the enthusiasm and passion that the young players bring it makes the work even more satisfying.

"When you go into senior football you often find a laid back attitude to training. Players want to play on Sunday, but they are not prepared to commit to training throughout the week. So you often hear coaches who coach at the senior level say it is much more satisfying coaching at the junior level."

Added Thompson: "The experience I have at club and national team with youth players is I haven't found it to be too much of a problem with players wanting to train and meet the demands placed on them. The players, whether they are 11, 13, 15 or 17, are looking for guidance, looking for quality instruction and looking for enjoyment.

"And when your training sessions can meet the expectations of the players, and then you come with the demands that are required to be a part of that programme, nine times out of ten those players will show up to train.

"When the programme doesn't meet the players' expectations then the player finds other things to do. Today it is not enough to have played the game and to think that is going to be enough to teach the game."

The 2002-2003 season ended on Sunday with three finals at the National Sports Centre, and while the players and the club coaches enjoy a summer break, Thompson's work continues.

He will take the under-13 national team to Holland, a country whose football philosophies he admires and is familiar with, having taken youth teams there since 1997. Last year was the first year since `97 that he did not take a team there.

"It started off with Somerset Eagles, then when I left Eagles to go to North Village it became more of a North Village venture," he explained.

"But we always took guest players as well. The first year we made it as far as the quarter finals and the second year the team actually lost in the championship match on a penalty shootout.

"It was a fantastic tournament and the more I travelled to the Netherlands the more people I met and found that we didn't always have to compete in this tournament. In fact, I found it was more worthwhile to go over and play more friendly matches than tournaments. So now when we structure these excursions there will be eight to ten matches planned before we leave Bermuda."

The team will travel to Holland in August and during two weeks will play four matches against professional youth teams and four against top amateur teams as well as participate in a weekend tournament.

Prior to taking the BFA post, Thompson worked with North Village for five years where he wore many hats at once...director of coaching, senior coach and even junior coach. That club is a local club he admires for its forward thinking. They just completed back-to-back League and FA Cup winning seasons.

He doesn't mind admitting the standard of local football would be at a higher level already if there were other clubs following Village's examples.

"North Village is an example of what can be done, they are trying to move forward and that made my work there much easier," he stated.

Thompson started coaching in 1991, holds an English FA licence which is now considered a UEFA `B' Licence, Dutch International Certification and a US `A' licence.

"I'm currently enrolled in UEFA `A' and will be doing that very soon," said Thompson who has attended numerous coaching symposiums, conference and conventions.

"There is so much to learn and it's an ongoing process. From the coaching aspect we can arrange all the courses, but it is the individuals who are required to take advantage of those opportunities.

"To go even a step further, it is important that club administrators demand that anyone working at youth level within their programmes have a certain level of certification. Quite often individuals are hired to coach at youth level and as administrators we know nothing about that individual and haven't demanded that that individual have a certain level of coaching education."

Added Thompson: "The other responsibility in regards to that is the parents. It is important that parents of these young players demand that clubs in their area provide quality, well organised programmes and that people working in those programmes are qualified to take their sons to a higher level."

Thompson recalls when he was hired to coach an under-10 team in the Washington DC area that parents came out to watch and make sure he was doing the right things for their children.

"For the first six to eight weeks there was 100 per cent attendance by the parents at the training sessions, the reason being they wanted to make sure that this coach, Kenny Thompson, was providing quality instruction for their sons," he recalled.

"In order for me to get the job I had to provide a resume with a certain level of coach certification and at the time I already had the English FA. But even then after they saw my certification it was important for them to be there to insure I was providing quality instruction."

He urged local parents to set the same high standards.

"Not one player whom I've coached can question my integrity, level of motivation, personal desire for excellence, and therefore when I make demands on the players, the last thing they can do is look at me and say `but coach Thompson, you said this and you're doing that'," Thompson said.

"If we are demanding excellence from our players, then it's important that we demand excellence from ourselves. It starts with self improvement.

"The deterioration of football didn't happen overnight and the reversal towards a much higher level is certainly not going to happen overnight either. The potential for such a small country is tremendous, but we're not going to develop players who will go on to reach the heights of Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne or Clyde Best without quality programmes, without financial investment, without quality facilities and certainly not without coaching expertise.

"These things are required and are already in place in countries outside of Bermuda."