Island Soccer League (ISL) commissioner David Bascome is quietly confident the inaugural ISL netball tournament will be a huge hit when the competition kicks off at Bernard Park.

This weekend will see two days of netball action, with 24 games to be played on Saturday, while Sunday will see the playoffs start with a knock out format.

Each team will play seven games against one another, with the playoffs seeding teams from one to eight based upon their records.

Bascome, who has included the new league under his Hope4Life umbrella, wants the new league to create positive female role models and help the Bermuda Netball Association (BNA) build a strong foundation for the future.

"The expectations for the league is growth, doing what it is necessary to help the BNA grow their sport," said Bascome.

"They have done a great job encouraging young people to get involved and what this tournament will do, is help drive the players forward.

"It's important to lay down the greatest platform for the sport so the young people could be inspired to be great and also hope our legends of the game be driven to give back to what they have started years ago.

"Netball is one of the greatest past times in women's sports in Bermuda and it's important that we help keep it that way." The teams are named after their ISL football siblings; Arsenal, Apex, Titans, Unions, Storm, Kings, Knights, and Royal. The draft was similar to the football selection process with coaches having one pick in each round.

In the first ever draft, the Union selected McKeisha Smith as the first pick.

While netball will be the main attraction throughout both days of the tournament, Bascome has also wants the players to be visable in the community to help inspire the young generation.

"This programme was introduced to help build women role models and give women a strong voice in the community through sports," he said.

"This Hope4life venture is important as the women will have an incentive to play and this also helps encourage them to compete at a high level.

"The ISL Netball players will be also taking part in the community programmes with the ISL soccer players.

The first matches of the weekend will see Apex play Union on court one, while Knights clash with Royal on court two.

Both matches start at 4 p.m.