A team of promising youngsters will venture into the unknown at next week’s ITF World Junior Tennis Competition North, Central American and Caribbean pre-qualifier in El Salvador.

Flying Bermuda’s banner at the under-14 tournament are Moziah Selassi, Tego Bean, Trey Mallory, Kaylah Ming, Imani Phillips and Kaylah Harvey.

“They are all new faces and some of the players have two or three years left in the same age group, so we are taking a very young and relatively inexperienced team to the competition,” Steve Bean, the national coach, said.

Selassi and Ming are Bermuda’s top players in their respective boys’ and girls’ divisions.

Mallory, Phillips and Ming represented Bermuda at last year’s Under-12 COTECC Team Championships in Jamaica and the Under-12 Masters tennis tournament in Mexico, while Harvey is making her debut at international level.

On team expectations in El Salvador, Bean said: “This year we want to go down there and find out what the level of competition is like. Nobody likes to get swept, so if we can win a fixture or two that would be a huge accomplishment because this team is young and it is their first time.”

Bean is in charge of Bermuda’s boys team who have trained very hard for the upcoming tournament.

“These boys have been hitting every day for quite some time and the intensity has come up in the last six weeks because they are working towards something,” he said.

Bermuda’s girls team are being coached by Tara Lambert, who has no doubts her players will put their best foot forward.

“I am definitely assured that they will give it their all for the experience,” she said. “They are prepared and looking forward to going and giving it a good show and leaving everything on the court.”

Team Bermuda depart for El Salvador today. The junior tournament commences on Monday in San Salvador.