The Central American and Caribbean Games get under way in San Salvador next week and for one sport it represents their first opportunity at the major event.

Bermuda will be represented in beach volleyball by Lisa LeBlanc and Meghan Calhoun, with their participation the first step in an attempt to further enhance the sport’s reputation.

The Bermuda Volleyball Association has been working hard in the past couple of years on their elite programmes and co-president LeBlanc is proud of how far the sport has come.

“I’m very proud that we, as an organisation, have got here,” LeBlanc, 47, said.

“We’ve done it and this is a pretty big accomplishment in just getting a spot and we are excited about going, but we have to be realistic to know that these teams are some of the best in the world.”

In order to increase their competitiveness, the BVA has for the first time managed to attract an international coach to focus solely on beach volleyball, with former Italian international Federica Tonon on island for three months to help players enhance their skills.

“We looked at the schedule in the new year and planned to bring an international coach here to help us train,” LeBlanc said.

“I actually attended the World Congress in September and the FIBV, the sport’s governing body, has a programme by which we can apply each year for an international coach, be that indoors or beach. This is the first time we have had a sole beach coach.

“Federica came at the beginning of April and is here to the end of June. She has taught us some great techniques and corrected us in a really good way.”

The team fly out to San Salvador on Sunday with LeBlanc hopeful a recent knee injury does not hinder her performance too much.

“ I had a knee injury about six weeks ago and that set me back a little bit,” she said.

“I have had a lot of rehab and been given the OK to play, so I’m just praying for the best and that nothing worse will happen to it. I am excited to get out there and do our best.

“Our first game is on June 21 and. The last game is on June 26, so it’s quite a long tournament. We’ve only ever been used to a three-day tournament so this is quite a bit longer and means we will probably have not as many games in a day.

The BVA’s focus is not only about the senior teams as Bermuda will also be represented in beach volleyball at this year’s Youth Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in August.

“We hope that we are paving the way for the youth to come behind us,” Le Blanc said.

“We really pushed hard with our under-23 teams to get to the Commonwealth Games and our youth programmes are really important.

“We will always have our indoor programme and that is best for schools and the younger age groups. We start from about the age of 11 and they learn the basics and go right up to 18, when they transition to the men’s and women’s teams.

“Also this year, we’ve had loose programmes where we take our older players from around the age of 16 to the beach, set some nets up and we train them at John Smith’s Bay. This year was the first year we went with that in all age groups and we have an open programme called Sand Lizards.”

Although the BVA gets some help from the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation in terms of subsidising flights for their tour stops, there is still a huge shortfall in funds for the trips, with the BVA committee working hard to raise funds.

“It takes up a lot of time,” LeBlanc said. “It’s not just me, there is a whole executive committee, including Elisabeth Rae. She is co-president with me and I don’t know how to thank her for how much she has done for the organisation since she has been on the island. It’s incredible.

“We would love to obtain sponsors and we worked really hard on one potential sponsor but that fell through, so we are again looking.

Now could be a good time for potential backers to join Bermuda’s beach volleyball players on the sand with the growth of the game expected to continue.

“We are now coming from a place of growth.” Le Blanc said. “Putting plans in place last year really paid off for us and we are sure that there are more opportunities to come.

It’s great to see the youth filling the shoes of people like me who are getting up there in age.“

• Anybody or business wishing to sponsor the beach volleyball programme should e-mail bvapresident@hotmail.com