Bermuda’s junior boys’ volleyball team travel to Boston today for the Mizuno Boston Volleyball Festival.

The festival is part of a series of tournaments held in the United States by JVC Tournaments and will feature upwards of 700 teams competing in youth divisions for both boys and girls.

Bermuda’s team has been preparing for months for the tournament that will involve them competing in the under-18 age group against teams from the US, Canada and beyond.

“So far there are 68 teams in our age group, so it will be very competitive,” Denise Somerville, the Bermuda coach, said.

“It’s a three-day competition with the results of the first day determining our placement into either the Gold, Silver or Bronze divisions.

“Once decided, we will stay within the division for the remainder of the tournament, which runs from tomorow until Sunday,

“All matches will be best three out of five to 25 with the deciding game, if necessary, to 15 with no cap. The game has to be won by two points and will continue until it has been reached.

“We will be playing loads of volleyball, which is what we want, but it will test the team on their fitness, determination and focus.

Somerville said the team competed in the Silver division at the Asics Midwest Junior Under-18 Boys’ Tournament in Chicago last year and returned home with the win.

“It’s difficult to have too many expectations because we haven’t faced any of the teams before, but our goal is to represent Bermuda to the best of our ability, play hard and be successful,” she said.

In addition to the team competing at the festival, it is also an opportunity for individual players to be scouted by colleges and universities with the possibility of recruitment for athletic scholarships.

The team consists of nine players selected from the Bermuda Volleyball Association’s Junior National Programme.

Squad

Joshua Blee, Nathan Cabral, Steven Camara, Benjamin Edwards, Seth Malpas, Aidan McPhail, Conor Sinclair, Dimitri Guglielmucci, Connor Somerville (Captain).

The Junior National Volleyball Team is seen in this video of an exhibition All Stars VS National Team match held earlier this month.