Two of the Island's top footballers will put their playing careers on hold to pursue their academic ambitions abroad later this year.

PHC Zebras pair Kevin Richards and Jonathan Ball are due to attend University of Notre Dame in the US and City University in London in August and will be unavailable for their club's 2009-10 campaign.

The 27-year-old Richards, who has participated in football trials on both sides of the Atlantic, is pursuing his Masters Degree in business administration while fellow ACE employee Ball is gunning for a Masters in risk management and insurance.

The attack-minded Richards, who graduated from Notre Dame in 2004 with Bachelor's honours, also plans to do a bit of coaching when he returns to his former Alma Mater for a two-year stint.

"Notre Dame is a great campus and the school spirit is really strong there.

"I had a good sense of family when I was there before in terms of my team-mates and it's a great institution and a great opportunity," Richards told The Royal Gazette.

"I am really fortunate to get accepted and it was an offer I couldn't turn down because Notre Dame have a really strong alumni association which I look to take advantage of."

He added: "I am always trying to improve myself and step up to a new challenge and this is definitely going to be challenging. It's going to be difficult and something I need to focus on one hundred percent.

"I already have some connections within the whole football fraternity and now I plan to establish business contacts while I'm there over the next few years.

"It's going to be a good opportunity for me to learn a lot and hopefully a good opportunity to make some good business contacts as well."

As for his unavailability for Zebras for the next two-seasons, Richards is confident his team can maintain a competitive edge in his absence.

"It's always tough leaving your team-mates, but PHC will be fine without me because they have some new players who will go from strength-to-strength," he added.

Bermuda Hogges' Ball, who will only miss one season at Zebras, is also confident his team will be able to cope in his absence.

"We have an abundance of youngsters coming through the system such as Casey Castle and so I think we are leaving the team in good hands.

"I'm sure they will be alright," he said.

And like team-mate Richards, Ball is also bracing himself for the academic challenges that lay ahead at City University which is ranked among the top business schools in Europe.

He said: "I am definitely looking forward to broadening my academic horizons and this is something I've always wanted to do personally.

"I felt that l could've been progressive in the industry without a Masters Degree.

"But it's a goal that I want to achieve as far as my education is concerned and having stability for years to come."

Behind the scenes Richards and Ball are active members of the PHC Foundation Scholarship Charity, which is a non-profit organisation that raises money for academic scholarships for PHC members.

Since 2006, the registered charity has granted scholarships to club members who have represented PHC for a minimum of seven years.

Funds raised by the charitable organisation also help to supplement various other athletic programmes and miscellaneous projects at the club.

"Our objective is to primarily raise monies for scholarships for PHC members so they can pursue higher education," Richards stressed.

"We are trying to raise $100,000 for that purpose this year and this is something we strongly believe in."

Ball, 24, also takes great satisfaction in making positive strides for his community.

"I feel that it's my duty to give something back to others in the community," he said.

"A lot of people have helped me to get to where I am today and so I feel it is only right to try and help others to achieve.

"I believe the PHC Foundation is a very worthy organisation.

"And it's always a good thing whenever you can help provide people with an opportunity to go outside of Bermuda and experience a totally different culture or achieve higher learning."

PHC vice-president and sports chairman Mark Wade, added: "We at PHC strive to support the whole athlete both socially and through athletics building valuable and productive people.

"PHC has financially supported players and students for a very long time as late Dame Lois Browne-Evans was a recipient."

Last year the PHC Foundation awarded teenager Kadeem Abraham and women's footballer Romeika Brangman with scholarships to further their education at Savannah College of Art and Design and Georgia State University in the US.