Bermuda's bowlers have been preparing for the forthcoming world championships under the guidance of a top US coach.

Ronald Hoppe, a silver certified instructor with 30 years' coaching experience, has been working with the six men and six women in a bid to improve their chances at the tournament in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, which starts on November 18.

And Hoppe believes it is an ingredient special to the smaller teams that could work to Bermuda's advantage: togetherness.

"The good thing is that Bermuda is really a team. They've bowled together a lot and they're comfortable with each other. With some of the bigger teams, like the US, the players come together from all over the country just for the event.

"The Bermuda team has a closeness. They're more like the Finnish and Swedish teams who stay together throughout most of the year.'' Hoppe, who has got to know the Bermudian team at various championships, most notably the Mega Buck tournaments in Las Vegas, where he is based, has videoed each player in an attempt to reinforce positive elements in their games and highlight the weaknesses to work on.

"I'm focusing on the foundations of the game to try to help them perform at their best level,'' he said. "I've taped each player and sat and analysed their games, then talked about their strengths and the possibilities for failure and tried to shore those up wherever I can.'' He is cautious about predicting the medal prospects for the 12 players, who will compete in singles, doubles, trios, team events and masters, despite last year's success of two of them -- Antoine Jones and Conrad Lister -- at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.

"I think you have to remember that there will be only about a third of the teams competing in the UAE who were in Malaysia. The level of competition will be upped considerably.'' he said.

"I wouldn't say it was an easy task, because a lot of the teams have full time professionals -- the budget for the Malaysians alone is $3 million -- but we have some tremendous talent here on the Island and it just needs to be directed correctly.'' However, Hoppe has seen enough to think the ladies could do particularly well in the team event, while the men might have a better chance in the singles, doubles or trios.

One problem he has been trying to overcome is that of the amount of oil on a lane. The thickness of oil on the lanes at Winnipeg caused problems for the team during their Pan American Games campaign back in July.

Lanes, which are generally 60 feet long from the start to the head pin, are usually oiled for about two thirds of their length. The ball will normally travel in a straight line until the point that it cuts out of the oil and begins to hook.

"If you can control the point at which that happens you can get really great scores,'' said Hoppe. "If you can't you can end up with some horrible results. The trouble in Winnipeg was that it was a new oil which was about twice as thick as usual.

"That has been my role to some extent because I have experienced pretty much all the different equipment and conditions.

"We have been working on things to cope with that such as changing the speed of the ball and the way you release the ball with your wrist. But I don't think the conditions will be a problem for our players, it's simply whether they can reach inside and produce the skills when necessary.'' Men's team: Antoine Jones, Chris Leverock, Dean Lightbourn, Conrad Lister, Steven Riley and Mike McCallum.

Women's team: June Dill, Dianne (Bobbie) Ingham, Patricia Price, June Pitt, Charletta Samuels and Traci Lambe.