"We also played Greece twice last week, winning the first by ten points and losing the second by seven, that's really encouraging. We've gelled well and worked hard, and I think we've started to believe we can achieve something - that's really important," said Lara-Bercial.
"The Greeks are hopeful they can gain promotion this year, so to win there was a big bonus. We did a lot of strength and conditioning work, and that's paying off. We rested Hannah Shaw for the games against Greece as she had a slight knee injury, but she'll be okay for Monday, and other than her everyone else if fully fit.
Britain open their campaign on Monday afternoon with a game against Greece, and both sides will be looking forward to putting last year's disappointments behind them as Greece finished bottom of Division A, emulating GB by losing all six games.
Day two sees Lara-Bercial's side face a Hungary team who they also played last summer, and they'll be looking for a vastly improved result having gone down 59-35 in that game. Britain never recovered from 4-13 first period and although they match the Magyars in the middle two quarters, a 5-20 final period ended their hopes. Rose Anderson was the only Brit in double figures with 12 points.
The GB coach believes that his team has a tough start to the competition: Hungary and Greece are probably the two toughest teams in the competition, though Belgium had a strong under-18 team last year, so if they bring some of them through, they'll challenge. The Greeks will be very tough, but it's a wide open group where everyone can beat everyone else, and I don't think it'll be clear who's going through until the final day."
Britain also face a side they met last summer on Wednesday when they play Portugal. The teams actually met twice in 9/10th place play-off - only the bottom side in each five team group didn't progress to the quarter-finals - and the Portuguese consigned GB to the wooden spoon with 59-44 and 69-57 victories.
After a day off, Friday sees Britain face the other team relegated from Division A last summer when they play Belgium. The Belgians won only one of their six games last year - the 15th place play-off against the Greeks, and will be looking to make an immediate return to the top flight.
GB wrap up the group stage on Saturday when they play Austria, who return to the competition after a five year absence. Their only other foray into women's under-20 competition came in 2004 when they lost all four games in the qualifying competition by an average of 61.5 points per game.
With five games in six days, Britain face a tough schedule, but Lara-Bercial believes his team can cope with the challenge: "We played three games in as many days in Estonia in order to get used to that situation. We're in good shape at the moment, and we're balanced so that no one will be over-played."
The top four from the six-team group qualify for the quarter-finals, which start on Monday July 13.
The U20 women's roster for the European Championships is as follows:
Dominique Allen
Nicky Avery
Kelsey Bardsley
Tamzin Barroilhet
Ruth Davidson
Leah DeHaan
Mary Durojaye
Kashmere Joseph
Hannah Shaw
Charlotte Stoddart
Erica Woods
Harriett Yea
