Bermuda?s junior squash players head to the Cayman Islands today for the Junior Caribbean Championships with coach Ross Triffitt confident of at least a top-three finish.

?We always go down the to the Caribbean to win,? the Australian said yesterday.

?But to be honest we would be very happy with a place anywhere in the top three. We have strong representation in all of the age groups this year, not to mention a full girls? team for the first time ever. So we are all looking forward with relish to the challenges that lay ahead.?

Bermuda will have boys and girls taking part in all of the age-group categories, from under-13 to under-19 level.

The individual championships take place between June 16 to 18, while the team event gets underway for three days on the 20th.

The top junior in the Caribbean least year, Bermudian James Stout, has moved on to the senior ranks as a fully-fledged professional, but Triffitt is confident that there are youngsters coming through the ranks who can fill the void.

?We have a number of players with a lot of potential and I am excited to see how they will fare,? he said.

In the under-19 division, Triffitt pointed to the talents of Andrew Robinson and Michael Shrubb, the latter having derived ?enormously valuable experience? during his time as reserve to the senior team at the Pan American Championships in Mexico last month.

?Both Robinson and Shrubb have been training very hard and should do well in Cayman,? he said.

?In the under-15 division as well, we have a very good player in Robert Maycock who has adapted well to his recent considerable growth spurt (the youngster is now six feet tall) and is playing very well. He is definitely the favourite going into the tournament for the title in his age-group.?

The Island?s Director of Squash revealed also that for the first time, much of the cost of sending a junior team had been offset by the profits derived from the highly successful Bermuda Open which was held in March.

?We made it clear from the beginning that any extra money would be ploughed back into the junior programme,? he said.

?We are 100 percent committed to breeding a new generation of squash talent on the Island to follow in the footsteps of Nick Kyme and James Stout and by subsidising trips to international tournaments, we are trying to make it easier for our young players to gain the exposure they need if they are to mature and advance.?: C.Stout, J.Olson, J.Shrubb, J.Counsell R.Maycock, R.Forbes, S.West, D.Olson, I.Redford, A.Robinson, M.Shrubb, G.Counsell.: K.Barnes, R.Barnes, A.Furtado, L.Robinson, M.Lightbourn.