TWO of Bermuda's best young footballers have just received thousands and thousands of dollars in scholarship money to attend the renown Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Shonte Campbell and Terrin Smith, both from Berkeley Institute, will start at the school in September.

And their parents all said that without the scholarship there was no way they would have been able to afford to attend the school which is ranked in the top five prep schools in the United States.

But it wasn't just their skill on the football field which enabled them to receive the scholarships ¿ they also had to show their achievements in the classroom.

Both players, who are 15-years-old, have represented Bermuda as well as playing key roles for their clubs ¿ Campbell with Dandy Stars and Smith with St. David's.

Campbell will be on a full financial aid package and will receive assistance amounting to $42,000 per year for three years while Smith was offered a partial package worth $27,000 per year for three years.

The Hotchkiss School is an independent boarding school founded in 1891 and has 578 students in grades nine through 12, and to a small number of postgraduates. Students at Hotchkiss come from across the US and 24 foreign countries and graduates attend many of the most selective universities and colleges in the US.

Shonte said this week: "I am really happy about it. I have gone up to see the school and it is really nice ¿ very cosy. It has a family atmosphere."

Terrin also said he is looking forward to attending Hotchkiss and was happy that Shonte will also be there. "We know each other well ¿ we go to the same school here (Berkeley Institute) and are in the same classes. It will be nice to have Shonte there because we are friends."

Shonte said: "My coach (at Hotchkiss) is also really nice and all my teammates (at Dandy Stars) have congratulated me."

Shonte added that while she was very comfortable with her football skills, the academic part did worry her a bit. "My grades have been pretty good but the academic part is what I am scared of the most ¿ what the transition will be like."

The 15-year-old player also spent nearly two months last summer in Reading, Pennsylvania playing for the Reading Rage Super Y league teams travelling all over the US eastern seaboard for matches.

"That was great ¿ I really enjoyed it," she said adding that playing for Bermuda at the Island Games in Rhodes "was a great experience".

"I want to see the women's game here get more exposure and be treated as an equal (with men's football)," the central midfielder added.

Terrin, who plays in central defence, said: "My coach at St. David's (Andrew Bascome) is very proud of me because he knows what a good opportunity this is. I eventually want to go to college on a football scholarship."

Shonte's mother Allison Russell said of the scholarships: "It is a great opportunity. They probably wouldn't be able to go to the school without the scholarship ¿ it just would not be viable. We went to visit the school and found it very homely and everyone went out of their way for us. And her coach is also like a mother hen!"

Terrin's mother Carla Smith said: "The campus is phenomenal and it is in the middle of nowhere."

Her husband Terry Smith added: "Academically the school is great."

Shonte's father, Wayne Campbell who was a star player at Dandy Town, said: "The opportunity is there for them and they have to go with it. It is all up to them."

Asked if he coached his daughter, Campbell laughed and said: "No way. I leave that to someone else but I do give her a few tips."

The Bermuda Football Foundation helped facilitate the scholarships and its secretary Richard Calderon said this week: "Our role was simply to assist with the coordination of the process. By that I mean, identifying candidates that met the high academic and athletic requirements of top prep schools in the US ¿ do the search for school options and assist with the coordination of interviews, SSAT exams, school visits and getting as many US prep school coaches and directors of admissions on board."

Calderon added: "The hard work had already been done by Terrin and Shonte as they had already proven to be high achievers both in the classroom and on the playing field. The fact that both have very strong parental support and guidance and happen to have been exposed to a good education, solid youth football programmes and good coaching, our involvement was simply one of being a conduit."

Asked what was next in this area, Calderon said: "We are in the final planning stages to take 16 kids (14 and 15 year old boys) to Connecticut just prior to the start of the school year to visit several prep schools and play two games. The plan is to expose these boys to upwards of 20 prep school coaches with the view to expanding the network of opportunities and assist with getting many more at these fine schools for the fall of 2009. They will visit a minimum of seven schools."

Terrin's coach at Hotchkiss will be Chris Downs who joined the faculty in 1991after teaching English and history and coaching varsity football and hockey at The Holderness School for three years. A 1985 graduate of Trinity College, Downs played varsity football, hockey, and lacrosse, earning eight varsity letters. A two-time National Soccer Coaches Association All-New England Selection, he captained the Trinity men's team in 1984 and 1985.

In 1985 while an exchange student in England, he played for the University of London's First Eleven and participated in the British Universities football championship in Cardiff, Wales. Downs also won honors in ice hockey at Trinity, when he was named to the First Team ECAC Division III All-Star team. As coach of the Hotchkiss boys varsity football team since the fall of 1993, Downs has brought his teams to the New England Class A Tournament five times. During the 1999 season, Hotchkiss was the Western New England Prep School Soccer Association champion, the Founders League winner, and the Connecticut Prep School State champion. That same year, Downs was named Connecticut and New England Coach of the Year.

Many former Hotchkiss players have gone on to successful football careers both at the Division I and III level, including three former players who are currently playing for Major League Soccer (MLS).

Shonte's coach will be Christy Cooper who has coached football, hockey, and softball during her tenure at Hotchkiss, which began in the fall of 1988. She started as the assistant in varsity football and softball and as the head coach in varsity hockey.

She is now the head coach of varsity football and girls JV ice hockey. Passionate about both football and hockey, Cooper believes strongly in developing the student-athletes with whom she works both as players and as people. The concept of team is one she places above all others, and while she is proud of the Founders League titles in softball and hockey, the run of appearances in the New England Soccer Tournament, and the string of wildly successful years with the JV hockey team, she is most concerned with building relationships among her players. She expects her players to understand the responsibility they have to their teammates and to helping them reach their goals, and to respect the game they are privileged enough to play