Nine new players have been included in the Bermuda squad for the Pickleball World Cup, scheduled for October 27 to November 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In the men’s elite team led by Gavin Manders, Benjamin Jones retained his place while Jamie Stowe, Tom Mills and Mical Russell came in.

Patricia Mills and Naphisa Smith were brought into the women’s elite side to join Imani Phillips as well as Melissa Judd.

Val Stevenson and Tori Powell and are the survivors from last year in the women’s senior team. Their new team-mates are Laverne Stowe and Samantha Todd.

In the men’s senior side, only Mark Cordiero retained his spot. He is joined by Courtland Boyle, Matt Dragonetti and Ryon Outerbridge.

George Thomas, the Pickleball Association Bermuda president, who was part of the senior team last year, has assumed the role of non-playing captain. Sarah Fox, the secretary, now occupies the position of non-playing captain and coach of the seniors.

Commenting on the team selection at WER Joell Tennis Stadium today, Thomas noted that the composition of the side is an indicator of how the sport has grown on the island.

“It’s a privilege to represent Bermuda in our second consecutive World Cup,” he said.

“We’re getting there as the reigning Caribbean champions and carrying momentum from last year’s breakthrough on the global stage.

“The team selection and preparation reflect the remarkable growth of pickleball on the island, and the unwavering support of our membership, families, sponsors and community whose encouragement fuels our ambitions.

“This year’s World Cup will be bigger than ever, with over 60 nations converging to compete and celebrate the sport’s global rise.

“Our mission is straightforward — embrace the challenge, honour the flag and showcase Bermuda’s resilience and spirit on the court.”

Bermuda’s elite team have been drawn in the same group as Bosnia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

“Making it out of the group stage is our goal,” Manders said. “Anything outside of that is great.

“We’re just looking to make sure that we go down there with 100 per cent effort. That’s the only way that we’re going to really get the result that we want.

“Our main focus is on performing on each specific day and getting better as the days go.

“With Bosnia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, we don’t have a lot of knowledge on where they are [in their pickleball development], but they have extensive racket sport backgrounds — Egypt with some of the best squash players.”

The seniors have been thrown into the same group with China, Serbia and Trinidad & Tobago, with the team captain also seeking to progress beyond that phase.

“In the group stage last year we beat countries like Colombia and some of the other large countries. We unfortunately ended up bumping into the United States in the quarter-finals.

“So we made it out of the group stage, won our round-of-16 match against Mexico and then we ended up against the US in the quarter-finals.

“We’re going to just work to get better every single day, like we have been doing in practice.

“When we get there, a lot of the players that are on our team are going to be playing in the pre-tournament. They’ll have a chance to hone their teamwork and their execution against potentially some of the players that we’ll be playing against.

“We’re going to do the best that we can. It’s a marker for us to see where we are on the global stage.”