TAMPA, Florida – For the primary time in its sporting historical past, West Indies Rugby is fielding senior males’s and girls’s elite groups on the prestigious Tropical 7s Rugby Event, unfolding in Tampa, Florida, on April 18–19.
This milestone second marks the Caribbean area’s most unified and impressive step but onto the worldwide rugby sevens stage.
“This can be a large second for us,” stated a West Indies Rugby spokesperson. “It’s a possibility to indicate the world the depth of expertise that exists throughout the Caribbean. Our gamers have labored extremely exhausting, and we’re excited to see how they carry out on this platform.”
Fraser leads a fierce males’s line-up
On the helm of the West Indies males’s workforce is Jamaica’s Ronaldeni Fraser, a high-impact playmaker famend for his tactical brilliance and management. Fraser captains a squad that reads like a roll name of the Caribbean’s rugby elite, blended with rising expertise from the area’s far-reaching diaspora.
The boys’s roster is a vivid tapestry of Caribbean satisfaction:
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- Barbados: Daniel Ramsay
- Bermuda: Hadleigh Tucker, Jahniko Francis
- Guyana: Godfrey Broomes, Lionel Holder, Owen Adonis, Tyrese Prescod
- Jamaica: Matteo Cherwayko, Captain Ronaldeni Fraser
- Trinidad & Tobago: Jerrell Vincent, Shaydon Delaney
- United States (diaspora): Vallon Adams
- Reserve: Kyan Cherwayko
Collectively, they kind a formidable power able to problem a number of the greatest groups within the Senior Males’s Elite Division, together with Crewmen Rugby, Boston Rugby Choose, Black Goats, Nice Danes Choose, Pirates 7s (Canada), and Saratoga Jockeys.
Blair leads the cost for trailblazing ladies’s workforce
On the ladies’s aspect, the West Indies squad can be led by Veronica Blair, a seasoned competitor tasked with guiding a robust unit of each veterans and breakout expertise.
The complete ladies’s line-up showcases expertise from throughout the Caribbean:
- Bermuda: Corrie Cross, Najee Pitt-Clarke
- Guyana: Carrin Carter
- Jamaica: Aniya Smith, Mercedes Coles, Morgan Brown, Naomi Dodd
- Saint Lucia: Mary Roberts, Shammah Philgencet
- Trinidad & Tobago: Leah Kintiba (Vice-Captain), Renetta Reynold
- Reserve: Nathalia Cadiz (T&T)
Their opposition consists of top-tier sides like H.E.B. Woman Hurricanes, Phoenix Rugby 7s, Macdowell Rugby (Canada), NAV 7s, Magandaquins Rugby, Chicago Lions, and Atlantis.
Regional unity, world ambition
Behind the scenes, the teaching trio of Wayne Pantor (Trinidad & Tobago/St. Vincent & the Grenadines), Jerome Poon Tip (Trinidad & Tobago), and Assistant Coach Chantel John (Saint Lucia) have been instrumental in fusing various taking part in types and getting ready each squads for the extraordinary tempo and ability degree demanded on the worldwide 7s stage.
Greater than only a debut, this match represents a broader motion: the emergence of the Caribbean as a united power in worldwide rugby. With aptitude, velocity, and coronary heart in abundance, each squads will not be solely taking part in for victory—they’re taking part in for legacy.
The worldwide rugby proving floor
Now thought-about one of many premier occasions on the worldwide sevens circuit, the Tropical 7s attracts elite youth and senior groups from throughout the globe. The match presents a extremely aggressive stage—and the proper proving floor for the newly minted West Indies sides to stake their declare.
Whether or not it’s Fraser’s electrifying breaks or Blair’s commanding subject imaginative and prescient, all eyes can be on the West Indies as they write an exhilarating new chapter in Caribbean rugby historical past.
