Bermuda's youngsters will be given a chance to restore the Island's somewhat dented hockey reputation at the Pan American Youth Championships next year.

The Under-17s national squad travel to Uruguay in March to compete against the likes of Argentina, the US and Chile, in the junior version of the tournament that was held in Bermuda last February.

A squad of 23 girls, aged between 13 and 16, have been training for the past nine months in preparation for the trip.

And while this group are the sport's future, the task for coach Dai Hermann-Smith is two fold – develop a team that will stay together and win together in the years to come, while also dealing with the realities of entering such a competition.

To paraphrase Harold Macmillan, 'results, dear boy, results'.

"When we started in March I just looked at them and knew we had a long, long, way to go," said Hermann-Smith. "Since then they are coming together, the mere fact that they were here from about 2 p.m. yesterday to 7 p.m. last night (last Monday), and they are here again (Tuesday), and doing this again tomorrow (Wednesday), says a lot.

"We're building a team, this is not a group of individuals, it's not about having the best players, it's building a group of kids who want to play together, and they do, and we're getting there, we're getting to the stage now where they are having fun, they are having fun working with each other, and that's team building.

"They have got to be able to travel together, eat together, have fun together, cry together, do everything together.

"Obviously from a coaching point of view you want the team that is going to produce the best results for the country. And that has always been my remit, it's important that people read that the team have got results.

"It's important from the standpoint of this place (the facility at the National Sports Centre) that hockey is producing something.

"And results do matter, I'm sorry, but yes they do.

"Our job is to try and come back with results where we can say 'ok girls, now you've started, the next time you go to a tournament you're going to do better, you're going to improve on those'.

"This is a beginning, but hopefully they're going to come back saying 'next time we go to a tournament we're going to beat those people'. Results do matter, and there is an awful lot at stake here, including the perception of the sport (in Bermuda)."

There is little room for sentiment in sport, no matter what the level. And Hermann-Smith has to trim his squad to 18 by the end of January.

Even so, the number does allow him to reward a couple of players he feels deserve to go, even if they aren't challenging for a place in the starting line-up.

"We're nearly there with who we want to take," he said.

"I would say there were 14 or 15 who are definites and then a couple who deserve to go, in, being blunt about it, non-starting positions.

"I think in any squad there is certainly room to send the message by taking that athlete who may not be at the top level, but turned up to every training session, has done all those things. In a large squad there is room for that.

"If it was a squad of 16 you'd have to say 'sorry, very nice, but we've got to take the best players'. But if you go to 18 there is the possibility that you can take that person that everybody admires because they may not be the best, but they are always here, they are always trying, and they are always putting their best in for the team."

In the past there have been questions over the behaviour of some of the Island's sporting teams when travelling abroad – something the current troubles on the Island have brought in to sharp focus.

But Hermann-Smith is adamant he will accept no trouble, and any transgressions will be met with the harshest of punishments.

"I have no doubt that all these girls want to wear the flag with pride, and hopefully we won't be taking anybody like that, but if there were a potential problem, they would be gone, the first plane home," he said.

"And it's not going to happen on this trip. Obviously you can't say that 100 percent, but they have been told that their behaviour now, out in society now, as part of a national squad, that is important to us, and we want to take people who are good citizens.

"They have already signed a document that if they transgress, and I think the words drugs and alcohol, are in there, and if they mess up on the trip, they are paying their own way home.

"That's part of the whole thing, they're not all angels, young women are not all angels, but I don't see anybody in this group that is going to disrespect wearing the country's flag and being part of that. I would be mortified if that happened, I would be extremely upset."

Whatever happens, the squad have enough experience in their ranks to suggest that they can be competitive, including two players, Katie Masters and Rayanne Bardgett, who were part of the Bermuda squad for the senior Pan-Ams which were played on the Island in February.

And according to team manager Juliette Oatley the desire to succeed is running through the team with a vengeance.

"The kids themselves don't want to get hammered, they want to know they played as well as they possibly can," she said.

"Even at this young age, what comes from them is the desire to get the opportunity to represent their country. And I think that passion is there, and it is amazing to see."