The Chef de Mission for the Vanuatu team at the Youth Olympics says the event is an important pathway to senior achievement.
22 athletes and eight officials make up the team which is in Buenos Aires for the 10 day event.
Vanuatu's Youth Olympic team before departing to Buenos Aires Photo: VASANOC
Vanuatu will compete against 4000 athletes aged 15-18 from over 200 countries.
Chef de Mission, Yannick Jacobe, said the Youth Olympics would teach the athletes a lot.
"Those youth events are really important for us because it is showing the way to go for the athletes and what are the top level players," he said.
"So they will gain experience from that games, that youth games, and from the other events in the region in Oceania but this is a good experience for them."
Jacobe said the young athletes will gain the experience of competing in overseas conditions and against top level opponents.
He said while he hoped the team would be competitive, at the end of the day the Youth Olympics were all about experience.
"Many gaining experience to go back to Vanuatu and share the experience and why not integrate? Which is the main objective after that games, to integrate the senior team in one or two years and perform well at the senior level."
Vanuatu features a Beach Volleyball team, two hockey teams and middle distance runner, Dick Kapalu.
