WHEN Bermuda's tennis team for the Island Games begin their campaign on Sunday to win gold medals in Gibraltar, one thing they will have to get used to is playing on Astroturf courts.

The games will be split between hard courts, which Bermuda's players are very used to, and Astroturf. However there will be one person who is used to the Astroturf courts ? top men's player Andy Bray.

A team of 10 players and two officials left Bermuda this week for Gibraltar where tennis and basketball will be played as there are no facilities for those sports in Shetland.

Bray said: "The courts in Gilbraltar are split between Astroturf and hard. Fortunately I grew up on Astroturf courts since there are a lot of them in England. It is very different from other surfaces ? it probably is more like grass. I don't know how much we will be playing on it ? I think they said that from the quarter finals on they will be using the hard courts. However if you get a tricky first round on that Astroturf it could cause a few problems as they take some getting used to. You can slide on them but it different than sliding on clay ? it is a quick surface. The balls can fly off it and your timing is very important."

Bray said that Bermuda have a strong team. "But we will be playing a lot of tennis over a short period of time and it is expected to be hot so it could come down to a case of the last man standing!"

While Bray works at XL Capital he noted that many of the players in Bermuda's team are overseas in school "so they have been playing a lot".

"I have to sit behind a desk but I have been playing quite a bit. However XL are very supportive ? there are a couple of other people from XL who are competing in the games. But work comes first obviously. I was working all last weekend trying to get everything done before I go."

And this will be the first time he will be playing for Bermuda.

"I never thought I would get a chance like this ? it's great. All of us have been playing quite a lot ahead of the games. I know that Gavin (Manders) is hitting it well ? he has a bit more power than he had before. You can see he has been playing a lot of matches (in school overseas) which is what it is all about. Practise can only do so much for you ? you have to play matches."

Bray, who started playing the game in his home in England when he was about six years old, was ranked in the top 50 at Under-16 level in the UK and went on to become the only senior player in the Middlesex county team not playing full time.

He was part of the Loughborough University team that won the British Universities championship three years in a row (one as captain) and part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers team that won the corporate national title ? the finals played on Wimbledon's clay courts.

The 28-year-old was also part of the county side that won their divisional title and got to hit on Wimbledon's number seven court on his favourite grass surface.

Bray was always a doubles specialist due to the nature of the English club system but has been working hard on his singles game in Bermuda.

The other members of the team are Jenson Bascome, James Collieson, Zarah DeSilva, Sasha Fisher, Caitlin Gordon, Tara Lambert, Morgan Lightbourne, Gavin Manders, David Thomas, Steve Bean (coach) and Jerome Bradshaw (manager).