One hundred of the best junior volleyball players on the planet will descend on Horseshoe Bay next week for the sport?s Under-19 world championships ? with organisers promising four straight days of jaw-dropping action.

The FIVB Swatch Under-19 World Championships has attracted entries from 27 boys and 23 girls teams ? including pairings from as far afield as Brazil, Australia, Thailand, Poland and even Kazakhstan.

Bermuda have also been allowed to enter a team, with Mount St. Agnes? Matthew Sinclair and Warwick Academy?s Ian Bucci set to fly the Island flag.

Over the course of the past ten days, bulldozers have been working away down at Horseshoe levelling the sand for the erection of nine, world-class standard courts, while temporary seating has been put up which organisers say can accommodate 2,000 spectators.

With only 24 teams allowed into the round robin stage, qualifying in the boys event begins next Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday will see the teams battle it out in six pools of four teams each, with the top two from each pool, plus the four best third-placed finishers, advancing to the knockout stages over the weekend.

The Bermuda Volleyball Association?s Bill Bucci said yesterday they are expecting the arrival of more than 400 people over the course of the next few days, from the players themselves to the 54 qualified referees being flown in specially and scores of delegates from the world governing body.

?We?re really excited about this event ? it?s been a massive undertaking but we?re confident of being able to put on something pretty special,? Bucci said.

?We were approached about eight or nine months ago by the Department of Tourism who had been advised by IMG that putting on a major volleyball tournament in Bermuda would work wonders for selling the Island as a major sports tourism destination.

?So our involvement began from there and from our perspective we?re also really hoping that this event will help to raise the profile of the sport on the Island.

?We have about 1,000 members as it stands, which for an Island this size is pretty good, but that is nothing of course compared to the main sports of cricket and soccer.

?What we?re trying to get across is that anybody can play volleyball ? it?s a terrific outdoor sport which when played on a beach makes it even better. So hopefully when people have seen the sport played at an extremely high level it will help to stimulate participation.

?As far as our Bermuda team goes, we only found out late on that we would be allowed to enter a team without having to qualify and we immediately went round to all the schools looking for people who would be interested in putting themselves forward.

?What we did in the end was pick the winners of our King of the Beach junior league that we run every summer. We were a little disappointed with the response we got from our efforts with the schools but again, once the younger guys have seen the tournament, hopefully this will improve next time.

?But I?d like to encourage the public to come out because it really is a great game to watch at a high level. For Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, admission is free and on Saturday and Sunday we?re only charging $5 at the gate. We?re really keen to have the stands as full as possible, so we took the decision to keep ticket prices low so that the public will hopefully be encouraged to come and see what volleyball is all about.?

Play gets underway next Wednesday through Saturday at 1 p.m. and on Sunday at 10 a.m..