The Bermuda Hockey Federation have named a squad with an average age of just 22½ for the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, this month.

Only three players have survived from the Bermuda squad that played at the 2011 Pan Am Challenge Cup held in Brazil, the last time the team competed at the international level.

Bermuda have named a squad of 16 for the Games, where they have been pitted in a tough-looking pool B against Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic and Guyana.

Included in the squad are Keishae Robinson, Yvonna Osborne and Jennifer Chisnall, who are the three remaining players from the Challenge Cup — where Bermuda finished bottom of the five-team group — and five uncapped players, Ryce Trott, Renee Greenslade, Selina Whitter, Azari Thomas and Maya Palacio.

The winners of pool A, which includes Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica and host country Mexico, and pool B will qualify for the next summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto, where they will join hockey heavyweights Argentina, United States, Chile and host nation Canada.

Bermuda’s most experienced player at the Games will be Alex Wheatley, the Bermuda goalkeeper, whose first appearance in Bermuda colours came at the 1997 Pan American Under-21 tournament in Santiago, Chile, before competing at her maiden CAC Games in Caracas, Venezuela, a year later.

Eva Dillas, the team’s manager, admits that Bermuda will have their work cut out in Veracruz, tipping Trinidad to be the team to beat pool A.

“In the pool games we face three strong teams and it will be tough going for us,” Dillas said. “The strongest team in our group is Trinidad and Tobago.”

Dillas added that the team had held several fundraising events to help cover their costs of their trip to Eastern Mexico.

“The girls have been training three times a week for this competition and began preparing for the competition in May 2013,” she said. “The girls have also had to fundraise to cover their costs. However, it would not be possible for us to travel to Mexico if it wasn’t for the generous support of our sponsors — Catlin Insurance Company, Markel Global Insurance, Belco, Bacchanalian Society, Allied World Assurance Company, Michael Collins, CTC Insurance Management, KPMG, Saltus Grammar School and Triton Water Service and two anonymous benefactors.”

The CAC Games will run from Friday, November 14 until Sunday, November 30.