THEIR sport may lack glamour. They play without specialised equipment at makeshift facilities. Their sport may lack attention ? with just roughly 60 players on the island and a fan base pretty much limited to wives, girlfriends and children. But pure love of sport is driving a ball hockey team from Bermuda to Pittsburgh next week to compete in the World Championships of this hardscrabble cousin to ice hockey.

The 24 players of Team Bermuda will be among 16 teams competing for the world ball hockey title. They have been preparing for the last five months and are definitely hoping to better their ninth-place finish from the last world championships in Switzerland in 2003.

The team's general manager, Tom Murray, told the that ball hockey has been a popular participant sport in Bermuda for roughly 20 years but only really got organised in a meaningful way this year when the island's first league was created.

"Ball hockey has been played in Bermuda as a recreational past-time for quite some time now amongst many Canadians living here, as well as a few Bermudians and Americans," Murray said. "Many of us grew up playing street hockey in the summer months as an alternative to ice hockey. In Bermuda, it has become a year-round alternative for homesick expats who miss playing ice hockey."

Murray said Bermuda's ball hockey players generally hold local tournaments twice a year but this year they also organised a five-team league which played throughout the winter. While the players in Bermuda have enthusiasm for their sport, they don't have the ultimate playing venues. "We play at both the Pembroke Community Centre and also at the BAA gym," Murray said. "These are much smaller surfaces ? about one third the size of a traditional sized hockey surface."

The small surface available for play in Bermuda automatically puts Team Bermuda at a disadvantage, Murray added, as their competition ? which includes hockey powerhouse nations like Canada, Czech Republic and the US ? not only draw on massively larger talent pools but also an abundance of regulation-sized venues to play on and train at and year-round, organised leagues.

But Team Bermuda has surprised the competition before in this tournament which is held every two years.

In 2001, they were invited to compete in their first World Championship after signing up, relatively ad hoc, for a fun tournament the year before.

"That year (2000), a group of us wanted to go on a 'road trip', similar to what the rugby teams do here when they go on tour," Murray said. "We searched the Internet for ball hockey leagues and got in touch with a group just outside Boston. We went there to play them in a friendly goodwill match.

"I think we lost 6-4 in the one and only game we played, but the experience stimulated our interest further. Our Boston friends had told us that there was a very strong community world-wide of ball hockey leagues and that it was becoming a fast growing sport.

"They put us in touch with the international body and later that year, we received an invitation from them to be among eight teams to participate in the 2001 World Championships. The other teams were Canada, USA, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland."

Team Bermuda finished in fifth place that year and beat USA, Germany and Austria in the process. The unexpected nature of their level of play was enough to earn them coverage on Canadian national television.

"Our expectations weren't very high, but we played well and surprised a lot of people," Murray said. "I think many of the other teams took us for granted because Bermuda is not a nation you would ever expect to have a competitive ball hockey team. It's never been known to produce a team, because of the small population to draw players from. I think that worked to our advantage ? we surprised many of the other teams and perhaps caught them off-guard in what they thought would be an easy win."

The team was less successful in Switzerland in 2003 but Murray said this year they have fire in their bellies. While they would love to win, the competition will be stiff.

"We have perhaps the strongest team we have ever had going to a tournament like this, but we have also noticed that the other nations have become stronger over the years too," Murray said.

"Canada, Czech Republic and Slovakia are the three top teams that are in a league of their own. They will finish 1-2-3 without question. The rest is up for grabs and I think if we play our best, we will have as good of a chance as anyone to finish as high as fourth ? if we stay healthy and follow the systems we have practised."

But Bermuda's players are mostly in their 30s while the players from the other nations will be primarily in their 20s, Murray admitted. While Team Bermuda is fit, age renders them more prone to injury unfortunately, and for this reason the team has hired an athletic therapist from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh to keep on eye on their collective health.

"Admittedly, I don't think we have the best team in terms of raw hockey skill and talent, but we make up for it with being very disciplined, not deviating from our team strategy, and most of all, through our sheer hard work, grit, and determination," Murray said.

While skill levels vary among the players, the team does have a star and leader in former Canadian university and junior hockey player Mike Moore.

"Ask any player on our team and they will say that Mike Moore is the biggest reason why we are optimistic about our chances," he said. "Mike is one of our defencemen and he probably won't score as many points as Fraser (Kochan), Eric (Bertrand), or Ken (Shula), but he will lead our team in the most significant way.

"He has become our leader, coach, and prime motivator on and off the ice. Mike played major junior hockey (and NHL feeder league) in Canada and won a national title in university hockey in Canada. He is a natural leader and has dedicated his time to guide our team to the fundamentals of competitive play based on his past hockey experience and knowledge."

Pittsburgh, Team Bermuda will put Moore's strategic visions into play. "Our team spent several months adopting specific defensive minded systems put together by Mike," Murray told the . "These systems are designed to take away opportunities from teams trying to develop scoring chances. We believe so much in Mike's system, it has given our players a lot of confidence in our ability. If we follow the strategy as it should be followed, we will frustrate a lot of other teams."

Bermuda's pool of four in Pittsburgh consists of England, Greece and India. "All three teams are entering the World Championships for the first time, but we understand that they are not to be taken lightly," Murray said. "They have active leagues and most players are semi-pro ice hockey players ? Canadian and US expatriates among them as well."

While Bermuda has the disadvantage of playing locally on tiny surfaces, they are coming in on a high having last month won a four-team Caribbean Cup which was held in Cayman Islands.

The team has also been practising three times a week, along with one evening a week of fitness training at the National Stadium and studying videos of past games.

"We are arriving in Pittsburgh in advance of all the other teams so that we can spend a few days practising and getting used to the regulation-sized surface there," Murray added.

Team Bermuda ? which has just one Bermudian player, Dave Gazzard ? must win its division in order to move on to the qualifier round and compete against the other three division winners. The tournament will run from Monday through next Saturday and Bermuda is going in hungry for the win.

"We were not happy about where we placed in the last World Championship and feel we have some unfinished business," Murray said. "We know we haven't reached our full potential yet. We feel that we can finish as high as potentially third place. That is our goal. We are going there to win."