WEST HARTFORD — Eighteen young baseball ambassadors started their long journey to Holguin, Cuba, early Saturday morning, with nearly half a ton of school supplies, baseball equipment and musical instruments in tow to be donated to kids there.

"I'm really excited for the kids and this opportunity that they have," said Tim Brennan, assistant coach and one of the program leaders. "They will be building new relationships, and our countries will be building new relationships."

Brennan said the group of 70, including parents, grandparents and siblings of the baseball ambassadors, traveled by bus to Montreal on Saturday morning, then flew to Holguin. They will stay in Cuba for a week, he said.

When the team members boarded the bus in the Conard High School parking lot at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, they were in good spirits, Brennan said.

The 18 players in the U-14 bracket, players under age 14 who may or may not have been on a team together previously, will be teammates for a week and play against a Cuban team. The West Hartford players also will visit a Cuban school and eat and swim at their hotel with their Cuban counterparts.

The Cuba trip will serve as the pilot program for Teen Cultures Connect, a nonprofit organization Brennan helped form to allow teenagers to connect with their peers from around the world through shared interests. The West Hartford team plans to host a team from Holguin in Connecticut in July.

"They are truly young ambassadors and they have embraced this role," Brennan said. "That's why we are calling this baseball diplomacy."

Ean Tyler, 14, said he was inspired by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy's Friday night send-off for the team. Murphy told the players that their efforts would go down in the history of Cuba-America's relationships, Tyler said.

"I can't wait to play the game — we have a lot of people — and give out donations to the kids," Tyler said Saturday. "We haven't met them yet, but I can't wait to make new friends."