The Bermuda Hockey Federation have announced a youthful but experienced women’s national team squad for the upcoming Pan-Am Challenge Cup to be held in Brazil.The competition, which will take place from July 30 to August 7, is a qualifying tournament for the 2012 Pan-Am Cup, with the top two teams qoing through to the main event.Bermuda’s squad will be competing against world hockey powers such as Argentina, USA, Chile and Canada, who are all hoping to reach the next Hockey World Cup.The travelling team includes a mixture of youth and experience, with skipper LaKae Dill and veterans Erica Furtado, Alex Francis, travelling alongside Candace DeSilva, who will be playing in her first international tournament.Alterra will be sponsoring one of the kits the side will take to the field in.Accompanying the Island’s side will be manager Tracy Stewart, assistant manager Lisete Moniz, coach Paul Deans and technical director, Dafydd Hermann-Smith.Stewart said organising the costly trip had been all the more difficult due to the economic climate, admitting they still had a hole in the required budget.“Our national women’s team only has a pool of roughly 35 women to choose from when selecting the squad,” she said. “This is mainly because we receive little or no money to help people stay involved in field hockey, when compared to sponsorship deals offered by other sports programmes.“Against the odds, we continually try to help the players achieve their best on and off the field which is why we continue to participate in these tournaments, and offer our teams the opportunity to play against the best field hockey players in the sport and for those who could not afford to leave the island, a chance to experience the outside world.“The costs for such a trip are quite large, and as a result we have initiated a vigorous fundraising process; organising a trash-a-thon in conjunction with KBB, running the May 24 marathon, holding a golf day, bake sales and hosting events around the island.“However, we fear that we may not be able to raise the funds needed, but if everyone on the Island contributed one dollar to our cause, we would be able to travel, compete and represent Bermuda to the best of our ability.”Bermuda’s squad: Latonia Fray, Candace DeSilva, Marcia Ford, Heather Sinclair, Kirsten Faria, Kristen Rego, Brittany Farias, Liz Stewart, Iman Smith and Jennifer Chisnall, Ryanne Bardgett, Erica Furtado, Raven Pearman, Alex Francis, Yvonna Osborne.