Michael Wolfe, the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president, has allayed fears over the safety of the island’s squad at the Junior Davis Cup tournament in El Salvador this week.

Security has been heightened at the Sports Centre of Merliot after an increase of violence in the Santa Tecla region, with the BLTA putting additional safety measures in place to further safeguard its representatives.

“I’ve actually been to the venue before and they provide armed security at the facility,” Wolfe said.

“Typically, the kids also stay in a hotel right at the facility. However, the BLTA has opted for our kids to stay at a hotel located in the central town area, which is a much safer place, just to avoid any issues and have more of a comfort feeling for our kids and the parents.

“We’ve looked at it and have experienced this before and made adjustments to ensure, as much as possible, our kids are not in any harm’s way.

“We also take provisions where we have a relationship with the driver and use him for all of our activities rather than use taxis.”

Bermuda’s team — Trey Mallory, Tariq Simons, Scott Redmond and coach Ricky Mallory — arrived in El Salvador last Friday.

They have been pitted in group E along with Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Bermuda face Jamaica today in their opening group match.

“It’s a tough division but we’re going out there to try our best and hopefully we can prevail,” Wolfe said. “Some of our players, like Trey and Tariq, have played against the Jamaican players quite a few times and split matches with them, so we’re feeling pretty optimistic that we can have a good showing.”

Each fixture is a best-of-three series, which consists of two singles and a doubles match.

The winners of each group will automatically advance, along with the next two best finishers based on sets and games won.