Barbados next week.

Jovan Whitter, Johnny Wardman, Zarah DeSilva and Danielle Downey, all members of the national under-14 squad, will compete with 13 other Caribbean nations in the Barclays Bank International Junior Championships in Christchurch on the island's south coast.

They were due to depart on Friday for two days of training prior to the tournament, which runs from March 30 to April 4.

The players will compete in both singles and doubles matches with International Tennis Federation ranking points available in the singles event.

Fourteen-year-old DeSilva, who is a student at the Saddlebrook tennis academy near Tampa, Florida, flew in to join the squad, which has been training since January, last Saturday.

Coach Terry Smith said: "We've been working on conditioning and some tactical stuff. We've been trying to make the team not so much more aggressive as more offensive. Before they've tended to play wait-and-see games, waiting for others to make the mistakes.'' Downey and Whitter, both 13, showed their promise in the recent inaugural Cromwell Manders Junior Tournament, sinking the hopes of older rivals.

Downey captured the Girls Under 14 and Under 18 titles, causing a huge upset in the latter when she beat Federation Cup hopeful Tara Lambert in a hard-fought final.

Whitter, a student at Warwick Academy, won the same two titles in the Boys division, beating Craig Bean in the Under-18 final and team-mate Johnny Wardman in the Under 14s.

Wardman, a 13-year-old Saltus student, also impressed during the tournament, impressing Bermuda Davis Cup captain Steve Bean with his creativity and range of shots.

BERMUDA'S BEST -- Coach Terry Smith leads (from left) Danielle Downey, John Wardman and Zarah DeSilva to Barbados for an international under-14 tournament this week. Also going is Jovan Whitter.