so that local sports groups could continue to use it, the commanding officer of the US Naval Air Station said yesterday.

"We offered to break off the property from day one,'' Capt. Tim Bryan said.

"They (Government) had the option to provide security and assume liability a year ago. We said, `If you want it, it's yours'.'' Capt. Bryan was responding to a report yesterday that hundreds of children were the victims of the US Navy's withdrawal from Bermuda.

The report also drew response from triathlon and bicycling associations members who said the continuation of their sports, including the Iron Kids Triathlon, was in serious jeopardy as a result of the looming Base closures.

"This coming September there could be two major sporting bodies in Bermuda without places to hold events,'' said triathlete and Bicycling Association officer Mr. Greg Hopkins. "If we lose St. David's (the US Naval Air Station) our sports are finished in Bermuda except for the May 24 holiday activities.'' Capt. Bryan said he wanted to make it clear the Americans were not "the bad guys'' in the ousting from the Annex last December of the Bermuda Youth Sports Programme (BYSP), the Go-Carting Association, tornado sailors, model airplane enthusiasts and others.

US Navy personnel had volunteered for years to coach local youngsters along with American children in baseball, basketball and other sports, he said.

Although the Annex baseball and basketball programme had been halted, a similar programme involving some 800 Bermudian youngsters, which his staff thoroughly enjoyed teaching, had continued at the US Naval Air Station and would do so until September, Capt. Bryan said.

He agreed that when the US Navy withdraws in September, whether or not the programme continues would be "a matter for the Bermuda people and Government''.

Mr. Hopkins said although the triathlon and bicycling associations had been given the go-ahead to schedule several major events at NAS for this summer, "Who knows whether in the lead-up to the closure they could turn around and say `we do not have the security' and we have to call a halt to the complete programme.'' He said the two associations put on at least six triathlon events and 10 or 12 bicycle races each year using NAS roads and beaches.

The uncertainty over the US NAS baseball programme prompted one concerned parent, Mrs. Celia Curtis, to speak out yesterday.

Sports row March to September baseball programme was started in anticipation of a USNAS closure.

Now that both bases were closing, not only were the 300 BYSP members without a home, but so were more than 700 children, including her 12-year-old-son, involved in the Rookie League and Little League on the USNAS in St. David's, she said.

"It's a huge programme and extremely popular with Bermudian kids -- it cuts across all economic and racial lines,'' Mrs. Curtis said. "And the US Navy puts its all on.'' She said she could not see why Government did not take over security arrangements at the Annex so the leagues could continue.

"Why shouldn't the kids have baseball while everyone decides what to do with it (the Base),'' she said. "There are going to be a lot of disappointed children.'' Government has said its hands are tied on the matter until the land is officially returned. And it could offer no guarantees that the two groups could return to the Annex once the US Navy has gone.

BYSP had used Annex facilities every day of the week to teach after-school baseball, basketball and soccer, basketball commissioner Mr. Harley Hayward told The Royal Gazette .

In its three years of existence membership swelled to more than 300 children and teenagers, he noted.

"Here we are talking about a golf course when it's the Bermudian youth we need to be concerned about,'' he said.

"With all the drugs and other problems the children have right now they need all the help they can get. I understand we have to get capital into the country and a golf clinic is a way, but we have to set something aside for the youth.'' Money-making ideas such as a winter tennis academy, a professional golf course and a sailing school have been proposed for the Annex.

Representatives from all the groups said they had met with Youth and Sports Ministry officials a number of times to plead their cases but to no avail.

Bases Transition team chief the Hon. Grant Gibbons said he was sympathetic to the groups and had made recommendations for alternative sites.

Apparently unaware of Capt. Bryan's claims that the US Navy had offered control of the Annex to Government a year ago, Dr. Gibbons said on Monday the US might not have wanted the kids on the Base for security reasons and because activities in preparation for the pullout could pose a danger to the public.

"I can't give you a rational much beyond that,'' he said, referring to the US Navy's refusal to allow the groups to stay until September.

Dr. Gibbons said it was "premature'' to say whether the youth sports groups would be able to return.

But he said he well understood the need for recreational space. And EDAW, the overseas company hired to make a plan for the best uses of the Base lands, would be holding three public meetings, starting next week, to get feed back from residents Island-wide on what they wanted on the lands once they are returned.