Bermuda’s senior women’s hockey team are gearing up for the Central American and Caribbean Games with a high school side from New Jersey.

The Pingry School arrived in Bermuda on Wednesday for a preseason tour. On their arrival day, they had a session with national coach Kovin Moodley at the National Sports Centre.

Combined drills with the national players were conducted on Thursday, before the two teams played a practice match last night.

Another match is scheduled for tomorrow morning before the students depart the next day. Bermuda are heading to Dominican Republic on Wednesday, where they are playing against Barbados (July 26), Cuba (July 28) and Jamaica (July 30).

“It’s always good to have a touring team come to Bermuda,” Moodley told The Royal Gazette.

“We’ve been very fortunate this year that we’ve had two touring teams through a company called Zag Sports that have come here, one university team and The Pingry School.

“They’re quite a talented and hard-working high school girls team. They compete very well in their region, so they bring good competition for our national women’s team just before we go away on our tournaments.

“It’s good for us to get competition and maybe a couple of matches just before we go away so we get that match fitness under our belts.

“Players on island do provide some competition for us, but it’s good to have a bit of variety in who we are competing against. It’s not just about the competition, it’s also about the community and hockey growing as a whole.

“It doesn’t just bring out the national players, but it also brings out a couple of people who are looking to umpire or coach and then also to support the game.”

Pingry head coach Julie Delinsky, stated that the lure of training on the turf is what brought them to Bermuda.

“We’re preparing for our upcoming high school season in the fall,” she said.

“It’s so beautiful here so we thought it would be a wonderful place to come in the summer to visit.

“It’s a chance to show the girls the culture and just get to train on an AstroTurf facility as there aren’t many on any islands, but Bermuda has it.

“It’s a chance for them to get to see hockey played in another country. It’s also an opportunity for our players to get better and be stronger going into our season.”

Hadley Baker, one of the touring players, was thrilled after the session with the Bermuda team.

“We’re just a high school team from New Jersey, so training with a national team from a different country is definitely a cool experience,” the 16-year-old said.

“Playing against them before the start of our season gives us a lot of exposure to different types of players.

“There’s a lot of people here with a lot of experience who have been playing the sport for a number of years. To train with and play against them is just exciting.”