Two Bermuda under-14 teams are in Santa Tecla, El Salvador, for an ITF World Junior Tennis prequalifying tournament, which starts on Wednesday.

Both teams will be in action over the next five days as they seek to qualify for the final qualifier later in the summer.

Arianna Parra, Chloe McBrearty and Ella Metschnabel form the girls squad, which is led by Shelby Madeiros. David Leader is taking charge of the boys, with Riley Maybury, Trystan Thompson and Raul Maldonado the players.

As part of the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association’s coaches development, 23-year-old Madeiros and Leader are embarking on their first assignments as captains.

Madeiros expressed excitement about her maiden role as a coach, with the Billie Jean King Cup team player aiming to impart her knowledge to the island’s future stars.

“I’m definitely looking forward to coaching,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be such a cool experience, especially working with the girls. I feel like we have a really great coach-athlete relationship as well and it’s been really a pleasure to watch them play together and just grow as a team. I think it’s only going to go from here on up.

“I would say that the preparation going into this tournament has been really great. The attitude from all the girls has been nothing but giving 100 per cent and giving their best effort on and off the court.

“They are preparing themselves for the competition that they’re going to face. They know that it’s not going to be easy, but I know that they’re willing to give everything that they got.

“I believe that they have all the right tools, they just have to go out there and execute what they’ve been told and put the preparation to use.”

McBrearty and Parra were part of a Bermuda under-12 team that won silver medals at the Central American and Caribbean Championships last July.

“I think our line-up is very strong and I think all of our girls are matching each other’s energy really well,” Madeiros said.

“They have a really great camaraderie about them. It’s really great to just see that the girls bond so well and get along with each other.

“I think that’s also going to be a really big factor in helping us through competition when we’re out there, supporting each other and just getting through the competition as a whole.

Leader is eager to see the players make the progression from the under-12 age group.

“I’m looking forward to see how they play against new opponents, some that they may have seen from their U12 times as well,” Leader said.

“We’ve had about five sessions in the past few weeks leading up to this tournament. It’s been interesting to get to know the different personalities of the boys and how they work with each other on the court and against each other on the court.

“Our focus has been on a little bit of conditioning, but a lot of point play, different scenarios regarding singles and doubles leading up to the tournament. We have been putting a bit more emphasis on serves.”

Meanwhile, Tobiah Goodchild, another promising tennis player on the island, reached the semi-finals of the boys singles at the Miami Championships over the weekend.

The 16-year-old defeated opponents from the United States in the first two rounds before he was bested 6-3, 6-0 by Yannick Ulrich, from Germany, in the last four of the competition.

Goodchild also found a US partner for the doubles, but their journey ended in the first round.

“I enjoyed playing in the tournament,” Goodchild said.

“The facilities at Royal Palm Tennis Club were excellent and the people were very hospitable. The tournament was held on clay courts, which I do not play on as often, but I was still able to adapt.

“In my first round, I won 6-2, 6-1. I found the match relatively easy because I was fitter than my opponent so I was able to win the longer rallies and the following points.

“This was due to my quicker recovery between points. In my second match, I struggled a bit more because the player I faced was a lot more consistent and slowed down the tempo a lot. I was able to win the first set 6-3 and I was up 1-0 in the second before he had to retire with a wrist injury.

“In the semi-finals I played against a guy from Germany and he was a very well-rounded player with no major weaknesses. His ground strokes and his accuracy stopped me from establishing a rhythm and made me play defensively from the start.

“I lost the first set 6-3 and in the second set he stepped it up and I started losing confidence in my strategies and strokes, which ultimately caused me to lose the second set 6-0.

“In the doubles, my partner and I lost our first match to the guys who won the doubles draw of the tournament. Overall, I enjoyed my experience and I would like to come back to the Miami Championship again.”