Alberto Budeisky, president of the Pan American Hockey Federation, believes that a lack of international fixtures is preventing Bermuda from unlocking their potential.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Pan Am Challenge at the National Sports Centre, Budeisky says it is clear the team are lacking in terms of experience.

While Bermuda have fought courageously in their opening three matches, victory has so far eluded Kovin Moodley’s side, with defeats to Paraguay and Mexico followed by a 1-1 draw with Guyana, which kept alive their chances of playing for a medal when the tournament draws to a close on Saturday.

“Ideally what they need is more competition,’’ Budeisky said.

“They need to participate in more events or have friendly games with some of the national associations.

“They can go on tour to Mexico, the United States or Canada, places that are easy for Bermudians to fly to in order to have more experience, because that is what they are missing.

“I think they have some potential and they have some young players that may help them to improve for the next couple of years for events that are coming. It is noticed that their performance in this tournament have improved day by day.

Heading into the Pan Am Challenge, Bermuda last played international hockey at the 2023 Central American and Caribbean Games in Dominican Republic, where they finished eighth.

In preparation for that Bermuda were fortunate to arrange friendly matches against the University of California, who chose the island for their pre-season tour.

“Other countries play not just official events, but they arrange friendly matches with many other national associations,’’ the Argentinian said.

“I’m not aware of what Bermuda did to prepare themselves for this event, but what I’m giving is my view of what I saw from the first day.

“From my point of view, Bermuda are between the second and third tier in the Pan American region.

“Countries like Mexico who are competing here in Bermuda have seven artificial pitches. They also have more than 5,000 players to choose from, so it hard for countries like to Bermuda to compete.”

Bermuda are one of the five countries vying for a ticket to next year’s Pan American Cup. Winners of Saturday final will seal the automatic ticket to the event to be held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

“Only one team from here is getting direct qualification for the Pan American Cup to be held in July 2025,’’ Budeisky said.

“Afterwards, the competitions committee will decide which team qualifies based on the world rankings when they are updated from this tournament.”

The man popularly known as “Coco“ left the island on Thursday but is pleased with the level of organisation for the Pan Am Challenge and has urged the Bermuda Hockey Federation to bid for future events.

“The organisation is excellent,’’ he said. “The venue is very nice, I know it from before and the maintenance is also exceptional.

“The Bermuda Hockey Federation made a great effort to organise the event in the best way and I would like to congratulate the Bermudians because they’re doing a good job.

“Hosting future events depends on Bermuda. If they bid for some of the next events, such as the qualifier for the Junior Pan American Games or some other event, they can do it.

“Initially, the Junior Pan Am Games qualifiers were meant to be hosted by Dominican Republic, but one month ago they informed us they are not going to do that. We’re now waiting for a response from Barbados to see if they will take it over.”