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The 2026 Caribbean Pickleball Championships are set to commence this week in Bermuda. Running from the 17th to the 21st of March at the WER Joell Tennis Stadium in Pembroke, the event brings together athletes across junior, adult and senior divisions. For the Cayman Islands national squad, the tournament offers a distinct opportunity to avenge a painful loss. During the inaugural 2025 championships hosted on their home courts, the Cayman team suffered a narrow defeat to Bermuda. Now, they enter the 2026 competition entirely focused on reversing that result on Bermudian soil.
Adopting an International Structure
The week features two linked but distinct events. While the Rally on the Rock tournament provides an open competition, the Caribbean Championship Cup serves as the high-performance team event. Scheduled for the 20th and 21st of March, the Cup introduces a structure modelled directly on the global tournament framework. This format is specifically designed to test the full depth of each national roster and prepare the islands for broader international play.
During the group stages on Friday, delegations will compete in a round-robin system where regular matches are played to 15 points, requiring a one-point difference to win. The playoffs and finals will then follow on Saturday. Each national tie consists of six distinct games. These include women’s doubles, men’s doubles, two mixed doubles matches, women’s singles and men’s singles. To secure an overall victory, a nation must win four of these six encounters.
If a tie ends in a three-all deadlock, the tournament employs a unique rotating singles tiebreaker known as the Final Battle. This deciding game uses rally scoring to 21 points and forces teams to adapt their strategies under immense pressure, as they must win by two clear points.
The Cayman Squad
Steve Thompson is a founding member of Pickleball Cayman and a player on the Open Team. He noted that last year’s close matchup was decided in a similar tiebreaker, adding extra motivation for the squad to secure a win away from home.
Thompson joins Open Team captain Elena Testori, Anita Warhurst and Yaniv Semo. The Cayman Senior Team features captain David Allott alongside Munir Ali, Ermanno Scerrati, Claire Hughes, Claire Roscoe and Pam Robinson. Both rosters are preparing for intense competition against established and emerging Caribbean programmes.
Expanding the Caribbean Circuit
The adoption of the World Cup format highlights a broader trend of formalisation within regional pickleball structures. The championships now serve as a crucial high-performance stage for the region. Alongside the host nation Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, the tournament features established federations from Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Event organisers have also invited several other nations to participate, including Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire and the Dominican Republic.
This expanded roster of competing nations demonstrates the rapid growth of the sport across the Caribbean pickleball region. By implementing international formats and fostering intense regional rivalries, the 2026 championships will likely accelerate competitive development throughout these island nations.
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