There were some valuable lessons for Bermuda’s Brandon Sousa and Benjamin Barnett at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation Beach Tour in El Salvador.

Sousa and Barnett finished sixteenth at the competition and failed to pick up a win in their four matches. The pair lost 21-10 and 21-16 in their group to the US Virgin Islands, a defeat followed by a 21-12 and 21-11 reversal to Canada. El Salvador were up next, and there was no change in fortunes as they lost in straight sets by the identical scores of 21-12.

With the players left to fight it out for a finishing position between thirteenth and sixteenth, Sousa and Barnett put up a good fight in a losing cause when they were defeated 21-15 and 27-25 by St Kitts and Nevis.

Sousa, the most experienced member of the team, conceded that their results were disappointing but chose to focus on the positives.

“It was a good experience for us and we were able to get a lot of experience,’’ Sousa said.

“It wasn't the best tournament for us obviously, but we did enjoy it a lot. We did gain a lot of knowledge that we hope to bring back to the rest of the volleyball beach players back home and we hope to be more successful in tournaments to come.

“Bermuda volleyball is trying to attend as many tournaments as possible to better our chances of getting selected to attend bigger events in the future, whether that’s CAC Games or Commonwealth Games.

“Our participation in this event gave Bermuda some valuable points to lead us up in the standings a bit further and put us in contention for those coveted sports at bigger events.

“Benjamin and I are a new pair and just starting to play together on the beach, so it gave us the ability to focus more on the experience of participating at an event of that level.

“Bermuda is working to develop beach volleyball and the only way to grow is to continue to play as much as possible.

“Working on technique, movement and the mental aspects of the game is what will make us better.”

Meanwhile, the Bermuda girls under-18 team also found the going tough at the Florida Holiday Challenge. Playing as the Paradise Hitters 18, Braedon Cooke’s side lost all of their pool matches.

Cooke has turned from coach to player, as he represents the island at a Norceca under-23 tournament in the Dominican Republic, which started on Tuesday, and runs up to Thursday. He is partnered by Connor Somerville.