United States professional pickleball players Chuck Taylor and Eric White have projected an enormous growth for the sport in Bermuda.

Taylor and White are making their maiden trip to the island for an eight-day coaching camp as part of a partnership between Bermuda Sports International, Bermuda Tourism Authority and Pompano Beach Club.

“Pickleball is a great sport for Bermuda,” Taylor, 40, said. “The island is beautiful, you can use the land a lot better for pickleball courts.

“One tennis court is enough room for four pickleball courts and you get all these people out there, socialising, and playing.

“Pickleball should be growing here, it’s a wonderful setting for playing the sport.

“It’s so good at building the community. Most of my friends are from pickleball, and I think the same would happen here.

“We’ve had a few players from the local club that have come in. They’ve been nice, I hope to see more of them in future.

“I would love to be involved in more pickleball trips out here, that would be something I hope for.”

White, 51, a senior professional, echoed the sentiments of additional courts spurring the expansion of the sport.

“The more courts that they start to get, I think you’ll get more and more pickleball players coming to Bermuda, whether it’s for recreation, leisure or tournaments,” he said. “If they continue to build more courts it’s going to blow up here in Bermuda.”

“I know from what I’ve heard from some of the locals, that they are starting to convert some tennis courts and just starting to scratch the surface.

“If some of the tennis professionals start to really understand how to play pickleball, they can grow the game on the island. The key is in teaching the people right away how to play the correct way.

“We have some Bermudians coming to our clinics, we hope to come back maybe next year, and do one with just locals.”

Valerie Martin, who was also in Bermuda last year for the coaching camp, hopes the sport can be added to the list of the island’s most popular pursuits.

“I know that most of the courts here are private, so there’s not a lot of public places to play,” she said.

“We got to play some of the locals last year and they were very good.

“We went to Hamilton and our bus driver was saying football and cricket were the two main sports here, so we would like to get pickleball within the top three.”

Sara Prebble is regretting not being part of last year’s group, which was mentored by US female professional Allyce Jones. The 60-year-old has been awed by the island’s beauty.

“It’s my first time to come to Bermuda, it’s absolutely beautiful and the people are so nice,” she said. “Coming here and being able to play everyday, it’s really awesome. We’ve had some rain in Maryland, so we have not been able to play everyday.”

Calvert County Parks and Recreation pickleball co-ordinator Robin Martin has seen the group grow from their last visit.

“We started small last year, we only brought 12 people and everyone loved it so much,” Martin told The Royal Gazette. “Almost everyone that was there last year signed up for this trip. We doubled it this year to 24 players and we hope to grow it every year.

“Of the 24 player, 22 of them are from Calvert Legends, a club based in Maryland.

“We’ve talked to the owners of Pompano Beach Club and they’re willing to add a few more courts. We’d love to grow it to 40 people next year and just keep it growing.

“We’re planning to go out and play at a local club against some of their best players, and see how that goes. Hopefully, they’ll come over and get to play with us.”

Dennis Brown, the BSI president, stated that they are eager to play their part in promoting sports tourism. “It’s good to see our partners from Calvert County come back to Bermuda,” Brown said.

“We’re looking for bigger and better pickleball events. We’re already in talks with another group that will be coming from Tennessee who are interested in coming to Bermuda.

“We’re looking to increase the level of sports tourism.”

BTA sports manager Aaron Evans said his organisation subsidised some of the group’s costs.

“Pickleball represents something that is coming in the future,” he said. “We have the resources and a bit of the infrastructure to benefit from that. The economic impact of this group is huge.

“The BTA plays the role of sponsor for a lot of these events. We provided grant funding for this group to come down and that’s based on the economic impact that they would have.”