Bermuda's volleyball teams headed to Boston recently to get what many sports teams on the Island desperately need ahead of the trip to the Shetlands ? foreign competition.

After a fourth-place finish in Guernsey in 2003, going down to 2001 winners Aland in their final game, the men's side feel they will be genuine medal contenders when they head to Scotland in July ? if they can get in the competitive practice they need.

The men recently finished third in the Boston Beanpot ? more formally known as the MIT Spring Invitational ? with Bill Bucci's team advancing through the group stage with a 4-4 record.

Unfortunately they went down 19-17 in the deciding third game of the semi-final series to eventual runners-up Juice Boys, who were beaten by Rhode Island in the final.

The key players for the Island side were the power players Mike Gazzard and Alvin Bell, who were hitting the ball as hard as anyone else in the event.

"Boston was a good training ground for us leading into the Island Games," said Bucci after his side's return to Bermuda."The biggest challenge we have in Bermuda is the competition level the national team has to compete against locally.

"We need to go away and/or bring teams on to the Island in order to get play and practice time against high calibre, quality teams.

"It's essential to get this type of playing time in order to gauge the team's strengths and to determine the areas we need to improve on.

"All in all I was very happy with the way the team played, third is a respectable position in the AA men's division."

In order to get the extra practice needed before they take on the likes of Aland, Cayman, Faroe, Gotland, Greenland, Guernsey, Jersey, Orkney, Rhodes, Saaremaa and Shetland in the Games, a team has been invited down from Canada in May for several days of five-game matches.

Aside from power players Gazzard and Bell, other strong players are captain Mark Coy, middles Ihab Khalil, Andrew Soares and Bruce Sinclair.Jon Gazzard and Bill Bailey are strong in the libero position, offering impressive passing and defence while new setter John Martin is quickly gaining a reputation for getting the ball to the hitters as and when required.