RICKY Mallory has given Bermuda's Davis Cup promotion hopes a huge boost by putting himself back in the frame for this year's competition in Costa Rica.

And with another key player, James Collieson, back in full training after recovering from a broken right foot, non-playing captain Steve Bean believes his team will do the island proud when they compete in Costa Rica in April.

The 37-year-old Mallory revealed he opted out of last year's tournament in St. Vincent to be with his wife when she gave birth to the couple's first child.

Mallory, Collieson and Jenson Bascome will be joined in the four-man team by one of the two youngsters who made their Davis Cup debuts last year as 16-year-olds, Jovan Whitter and Ryan Swan.

Captain and team-mates alike said this week that if Mallory had played last year, they believe Bermuda would have won promotion from American Zone Group IV. And when they told him that, Mallory felt moved to come back.

"These guys said they could have won the tournament last year if I'd been with them," said Mallory at a team training session on the Elbow Beach courts this week. "They talked me into playing again."

Mallory is the most experienced player in Bermuda's eight-year Davis Cup history and figured in two promotion-winning campaigns, in 1997 and 2000.

On the local scene, Mallory plays only doubles, and that's what he intends to do for the national team.

"In an emergency, I'd play singles if they asked me to, but I wouldn't really want to do it," said Mallory.

"It's an honour to go and represent your country, but it's kind of embarrassing to be doing that at the age of 37. It's just too bad there are no young players ready. There are some coming up, like Jovan Whitter and Ryan Swan, but they're probably not quite ready for this level."

Mallory plays football for Key West Rangers, something that has helped him to maintain fitness. And now he is hitting every day, looking forward to the the Davis Cup event, which runs from March 31 to April 6.

He felt his experience in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of international team tennis would be an asset to the team. And as for a hostile crowd - well, that was something he relished!

"Someone without experience playing Davis Cup would probably get butterflies in the stomach," said Mallory. "But I've been doing it so many years that I can just concentrate on playing.

"Sometimes I think you can feed off the crowd. When the crowd's really against you and you're playing a home player, I like that. It makes me try even harder."

Mallory wants his input into the team to go further than playing.

"I'm interested in doing some coaching and working with our top players like Jenson and James," said Mallory. "Usually, as soon we get back after the Davis Cup, everything stops. We have no real programme in place.

"I think we should be training all year round, not just when we're preparing to go away."

Collieson said he suffered his broken foot when he turned it badly while running just before Christmas.

"It was a pity because I had plans to play in some Futures tournaments in Florida," said Collieson. "And the day I bought the non-refundable ticket to fly there was the same day I broke my foot!"

The 25-year-old had to wear a cast for six weeks and kept in shape on an exercise bike.

"I've been hitting against the wall - that way I don't have to run - but I've got the cast off and I'm hitting again on court now. I feel pretty good and I'm confident that I'll be back at 100 percent by the time we go to Costa Rica," said Collieson.

Bermuda will be up against Costa Rica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, the Organsiation of Eastern Caribbean States, Panama and the US Virgin Islands in the hard-court event.

Collieson said: "I think the toughest teams we'll face out there will be Costa Rica and Panama. They're teams who've been in Group II.

"I think Costa Rica have got a player in the top 150 and obviously if he plays it will be hard to beat them.

"Most of the other countries we will play, we have been used to beating in the past. If we can just upset one of the big two, we have a chance of winning promotion."

Bean was delighted to have Mallory back on board.

"Last year, if we had had Ricky, I'm sure we would have gone up to Group III," said the captain. "Ricky and Jenson are the number one doubles pair in the country and although James and Jenson played extremely well together last year, I think Ricky could have made a difference in tight situations.

"What Ricky brings to the team is leadership quality and experience. The guys respect him. When he says something from court-side, they will respond to it.

"I believe he could still do a job playing singles for us. He and Jenson play in training and Ricky can still beat him."

Bascome was looking forward to resuming his Davis Cup doubles partnership with Mallory.

"Ricky and I have been playing together for a long time, the chemistry is there and we instinctively know what we're going to do on court," said the 23-year-old.

"Ricky's presence is going to help us tremendously. He brings great maturity and competitiveness to the team."

Last year, he said the responsibilities placed on him and Collieson had taken its toll in the stifling Caribbean heat.

"We had the two 16-year-olds in there last year and we were hoping we could be 2-0 up after the singles in each match so they could get a game in the doubles, but it just didn't work out that way.

"So Jovan and Ryan didn't get to play as much as they would have liked and James and I were playing all the time. The workload was heavy and by the third day, my body was pretty much shut down.

"It was very hot and I think we need to prepare better for that. It would be ideal if we could go to Florida, or somewhere with that kind of heat, a week or two before the Davis Cup starts and then we'd be prepared for it. Other teams do it. St. Lucia did it last year and they went up."

Bascome graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia last May and hopes to return to the school to study for a doctorate in physical therapy.

Bean said winning promotion to Group III was his team's target, but conceded there were large obstacles ahead of them.

"We have played against many of the teams over the past few years and have regularly beaten them," said Bean.

"What concerns me are the two teams who have come down from Group III, Costa Rica and Panama. They will be our stiffest opposition, but we have a good team and we could surprise them.

"I'm very confident we will do well and we will have a chance of going up. James has shown he can beat good players and Jenson's win-loss record in Davis Cup is tremendous."

Whitter is away at the Van der Meer Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, where Bean said his game had improved greatly.The home-based players are hitting every day, sometimes twice a day, in their bid to hit a peak in the first week of April.

Like Bascome, Bean said he would like at least half of his team to go away at least a week before the tournament to prepare for the high temperatures they will encounter in Central America.

"I have seen Bermuda teams lose matches because of the heat," said Bean. "When you're training here in 70 degrees, then you go out there to play in 90 degrees, it's quite a change.

"Getting the chance to hit in those temperatures for a week before the tournament would be a major help. I would like to at least send my two singles players, Jenson and James, but it is a question of money.

"It is something we are considering, but it has to be considered by the Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association's International Committee."

Bean believed the strong camaraderie among his players was another strength of the team.

"Our guys are close in terms of friendship," he said. "They often call each other up and are always willing to hit with each other.

"They pull together so well for one another and that is a beautiful thing to have in the team for me as the coach. It can help us when we find ourselves in tough situations on court."

Bean, a player in Bermuda's first Davis Cup team in 1995 and the non-playing captain ever since, has seen the team go from strength to strength. And he loves the competition and its atmosphere.

"There is nothing like the experience of Davis Cup," said Bean. "It's an international team event, where you get the chance to mix with players from other countries. It helps you develop not only as a player, but also as a person."