coaching course at Stonington Hotel is in Bermuda this week putting final plans together for the week-long course.

When he returns on October 9 for the course, which runs from October 11-16, Los Angeles-based Hugo Salcedo will bring with him three other FIFA instructors who will conduct courses in the areas of refereeing, coaching and sports medicine. Salcedo will handle the course in administration.

There will be a maximum 80 participants involved in the course at Stonington Hotel, 25 each in the areas of coaching and refereeing and 15 each for administrators and sports medicine. Dr. Rudy Gittens of Canada will handle the area of sports medicine, Jochen Figge of Germany will lend his expertise to the coaches and George Cumming of Scotland will provide instruction to the referees.

"It's a very exciting and intense course, not only to listen to us but also to participate,'' said Salcedo yesterday. "The administrators will get some assignments.'' The course will be put on free to local participants, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Coca-Cola and at the end of the 30-hour courses it is hoped, said Salcedo, that all the particpants will have gained tremendous knowledge.

"Eighty is the maximum FIFA allow in any course and the small group is better with the participants getting more out of the course,'' said Salcedo, who has been a FIFA instructor since 1985.

Salcedo is Mexican born but has been a US citizen since 1970 and played for the United States soccer team in the 1972 Olympics as a midfielder.

BFA president Charlie Marshall said there are still places available for those interested in participating in the course. They should contact administrative assistant David Sabir at the BFA office for further information.

One area that will be fully subscribed is the referees course, which the island's referees plan to take full advantage of.

"We need to get a few more in sports medicine and administration,'' Sabir disclosed. "And we also need to get some prominent clubs to get their coaches involved.'' Sabir said First and Second Division coaches are urged to participate.

Director of Referees Aldwyn Savery is hoping to participate in a couple of the courses, if permitted, and though the drive for new referees has not gone well, Savery assured all there will be a good response from the local referees to the course.

"We intended to have a one-week course starting September 8 to prepare new people for the Futuro course but we've had to defer the course because of poor response,'' Savery said. "We're asking people, male and female and of all ages, to make a commitment and come out and assist.

"We're having problems now because there is a lot more football than five, six years ago. People don't see the benefits of refereeing but there are a lot of positive benefits, like building up man management skills for example.'' The Bermuda Soccer Referees Association, which has a new president in Gregory Grimes who replaced Dennis Wainwright in June, have lost the services of Gregory Belboda and Clarence Burrows.

"Our referees are already in training for next season,'' said Savery. "We've have had monthly meetings so this course is like icing to the cake, really.

This is an opportunity for those aspiring to be First Class referees. We're also hoping to get a couple more female referees for the women's league.'' The BFA will hold a special executive meeting tonight to further look into the matter the additional team to be brought into the First Division next season in place of Hotels.

"We're anticipating an outcome before the end of this week,'' said president Marshall.