Bermuda Brazilian Football School (BBFS) CEO Cal Blankendal is a pleased man after the school celebrated its first anniversary last month, with the programme exceeding the expectations that were originally established.

Aspiring Bermudian football players, aged between 5 and 18 have been learning to play the samba way at the local branch of the world-renowned Brazilian Soccer School (BSS) for the past 12 months.

Sessions have mainly been held at Sandys 360 Sports Complex and Sandys Middle School.

The BSS boasts over one million youngsters enrolled in academies in 61 different countries across the globe, with the Bermuda franchise set up and run by head coach Dennis Brown, chairman Peter Wilson, Blakendal and Ex Officio founder Lew Simmons.

Blankendaal, the youth director at the Premier Division champions Dandy Town, admitted the first year had been challenging but had come with many accomplishments.

"The first year has been challenging, but in a very positive manner," said Blankendal.

"The level of interest, parental support, player participation and even recruitment of coaches has been a very pleasant one. Bermuda Council for Drug-free Sports tests all of our coaches.

"The most challenging aspect was in finding affordable and suitable locations for weekly training, as we host two weekly sessions.

"I believe that we have had a very successful first year.

"As with any new programme, there are many aspects we can improve on to develop the school further.

"Our goal is to develop and evaluate our players at regular intervals based on specific age group based targets.

"We are also consistent with our overseas coaches by ensuring they return at regular intervals to assess the development of our players.

"On a football aspect we would not be able to offer our services to our members without the full backing of BAA and Sandys 360 as training venues.

"President John Doran and Dr. Bassett have gone above and beyond the call of duty to assist us.

"We also wish to acknowledge the media, various Government Ministries and especially John Barritt and Son Ltd. for their support.

"Also thanks to Vincent Minors and Milton Stephens and Lew Simmons for helping us in the opening year."

Last July coach Brown took a select side from the school to the UK to a tournament where they returned undefeated beating young teams from Reading and West Ham.

Heading into a new year, Blankendal hopes to attract more children into the programme which aims to improve their educational and football skills.

"The most important aspect is the school and not the camp.

"The camp is to allow more players to experience the Brazilian ideology of football but the school is where we can develop any player of any ability, both boys and girls.

"We have seen our first official female member join us recently and increasing our female membership is one of our 2010 objectives.

"We will be a full service school as of June 2010 that will include, boys, girls and goalkeepers.

"We are a school which means that we will increase our focus on education starting September 2010.

"We have a welfare officer Milton Stephens who has already assumed his role and interacts with any parent/child who requires our support.

Coach Brown added: "I must say that at this point the response to Bermuda's Brazilian Football School has been nothing short of amazing.

"I knew that we had a good programme but did not know that it would take off so fast in Bermuda.

"What has been pleasing to me has been to see the overall improvement in the confidence levels of all boys and girls in a very short span of time.

"This has been done by being challenged to increase individual training times to improve performance, creativity and confidence."

The BBFS have partnerships with organisations such as The Family Centre, Bermuda Council Drug free Sports (BCDS), The Bermuda Police Service Community Division and National Drug Control – Community Division.