MLP Nations Cup: Meet the Eight Captains Leading the Pickleball World
MLP Nations Cup: Meet the Eight Captains Leading the Pickleball World
From October 30 to November 1, Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch (just outside Dallas, Texas) will host something professional pickleball has never done before: a tournament of regional selections, not club franchises. It's the MLP Nations Cup, the inaugural event kicking off the 10-day 2026 Pickleball World Championships, bringing together eight teams representing different parts of the world — the United States, Canada, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Australia, and two Asian selections (International and Domestic).
The format: Friday and Saturday of round-robin play within each group, and Sunday's championship day with a single-elimination bracket crowning the tournament's first-ever champion.
Behind every roster stands a captain — part general manager, part coach, and full-time ambassador for pickleball in their region. Here are all eight.
Juan Manuel Benitez — Captain, Latin America
The name closest to home for our readers. The Colombian, whom you already know well from our pages, captains a Latin American roster bringing together talent from Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Mexico — including Alexa Schull (Puerto Rico), who has also been a DINK Authority cover subject.
Benitez represents exactly the kind of career arc that makes this sport unique: he went from competing against the world's best to coaching them — today he's the coach for Hayden Patriquin and Anna Bright, the pair that won the PPA Mesa Cup and the Veolia Pickleball National Championships in Cary this year. That same eye for the game is now serving an entire continent.
Johnny Goldberg — Captain, United States
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With a roster that includes Ben Johns, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, and Tyra Black, specialized media hasn't hesitated to call Team USA the most stacked in the field — and it's no coincidence coming from Goldberg, who discovered pickleball just a few years ago while in law school, looking for a new hobby. He'd never played a racquet sport before. In his first year as a pro, he was already taking gold in men's doubles at the APP New Jersey Open. He competes under Team JOOLA, alongside his wife, fellow professional player Regina Franco Goldberg.
Steve Deakin — Captain, Canada
Deakin is arguably the longest résumé among the eight captains. He picked up a tennis racquet at age 5, went on to become an ATP-ranked player, and won 11 Canadian national titles in that sport. A 2017 injury led him to pickleball — and he never looked back. Today he's a 5-time Canadian national champion, ranked No. 1 in both gender doubles and mixed doubles on the Humana PPA Senior Pro Tour, and founder of his own clinic and camp academy across Canada.
Chris Cantino — Captain, Western Europe
Leading a roster that combines talent from Spain, Scotland, France, and Belgium — with names like Judit Castillo, Will MacKinnon, and Theo Platel — Cantino is at the front of the discipline's expansion in one of the markets where European pickleball is growing fastest.
Caleb Garrard — Captain, Eastern Europe
Garrard captains a roster with players from Poland, Romania, Sweden, Lithuania, and Slovenia — including Lina Padegimaite, DINK Authority's June 2026 cover subject, and Daria Walczak. Along with Cantino's team, it's one of two European chapters in this first Nations Cup, evidence of just how quickly the sport is professionalizing on the other side of the Atlantic.
Sange Carter — Captain, Australia
Carter leads an Australian team that includes Danni-Elle Townsend, our magazine's August 2026 cover subject, alongside Sarah Burr, Chris Crouch, and Mitch Hargreaves. Australia has been, in recent years, one of the most consistent pipelines of professional talent outside North America.
Madeleine Lim — Captain, Asia International
Lim captains the "Asia International" roster — a selection bringing together players from Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, reflecting the enormous diversity of markets pickleball is conquering simultaneously across the Asian continent.
Geoffrey Nguyen & Jeff Tsao — Captains, Asia Domestic
A shared captaincy for the "Asia Domestic" selection, with players from China, India, Vietnam, and Chinese Taipei. MLP's decision to split Asia into two separate selections (International and Domestic) for this first Nations Cup says a lot about the size and complexity of the Asian market — too big and too varied to represent with a single team.
Eight captains, eight regions, one trophy. On October 30, in Texas, the first edition kicks off of a tournament that will likely become an annual fixture on the pickleball calendar — and DINK Authority will be there to cover it.
MLP Nations Cup: Meet the Eight Captains Leading the Pickleball World
From October 30 to November 1, Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch (just outside Dallas, Texas) will host something professional pickleball has never done before: a tournament of regional selections, not club franchises. It's the MLP Nations Cup, the inaugural event kicking off the 10-day 2026 Pickleball World Championships, bringing together eight teams representing different parts of the world — the United States, Canada, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Australia, and two Asian selections (International and Domestic).
The format: Friday and Saturday of round-robin play within each group, and Sunday's championship day with a single-elimination bracket crowning the tournament's first-ever champion.
Behind every roster stands a captain — part general manager, part coach, and full-time ambassador for pickleball in their region. Here are all eight.
Juan Manuel Benitez — Captain, Latin America
The name closest to home for our readers. The Colombian, whom you already know well from our pages, captains a Latin American roster bringing together talent from Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Mexico — including Alexa Schull (Puerto Rico), who has also been a DINK Authority cover subject.
Benitez represents exactly the kind of career arc that makes this sport unique: he went from competing against the world's best to coaching them — today he's the coach for Hayden Patriquin and Anna Bright, the pair that won the PPA Mesa Cup and the Veolia Pickleball National Championships in Cary this year. That same eye for the game is now serving an entire continent.
Johnny Goldberg — Captain, United States
LOVE PICKLEBALL?
Get Dink Authority Magazine updates, new editions, pro stories and event alerts.
We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.
With a roster that includes Ben Johns, Anna Bright, Kate Fahey, and Tyra Black, specialized media hasn't hesitated to call Team USA the most stacked in the field — and it's no coincidence coming from Goldberg, who discovered pickleball just a few years ago while in law school, looking for a new hobby. He'd never played a racquet sport before. In his first year as a pro, he was already taking gold in men's doubles at the APP New Jersey Open. He competes under Team JOOLA, alongside his wife, fellow professional player Regina Franco Goldberg.
Steve Deakin — Captain, Canada
Deakin is arguably the longest résumé among the eight captains. He picked up a tennis racquet at age 5, went on to become an ATP-ranked player, and won 11 Canadian national titles in that sport. A 2017 injury led him to pickleball — and he never looked back. Today he's a 5-time Canadian national champion, ranked No. 1 in both gender doubles and mixed doubles on the Humana PPA Senior Pro Tour, and founder of his own clinic and camp academy across Canada.
Chris Cantino — Captain, Western Europe
Leading a roster that combines talent from Spain, Scotland, France, and Belgium — with names like Judit Castillo, Will MacKinnon, and Theo Platel — Cantino is at the front of the discipline's expansion in one of the markets where European pickleball is growing fastest.
Caleb Garrard — Captain, Eastern Europe
Garrard captains a roster with players from Poland, Romania, Sweden, Lithuania, and Slovenia — including Lina Padegimaite, DINK Authority's June 2026 cover subject, and Daria Walczak. Along with Cantino's team, it's one of two European chapters in this first Nations Cup, evidence of just how quickly the sport is professionalizing on the other side of the Atlantic.
Sange Carter — Captain, Australia
Carter leads an Australian team that includes Danni-Elle Townsend, our magazine's August 2026 cover subject, alongside Sarah Burr, Chris Crouch, and Mitch Hargreaves. Australia has been, in recent years, one of the most consistent pipelines of professional talent outside North America.
Madeleine Lim — Captain, Asia International
Lim captains the "Asia International" roster — a selection bringing together players from Japan, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, reflecting the enormous diversity of markets pickleball is conquering simultaneously across the Asian continent.
Geoffrey Nguyen & Jeff Tsao — Captains, Asia Domestic
A shared captaincy for the "Asia Domestic" selection, with players from China, India, Vietnam, and Chinese Taipei. MLP's decision to split Asia into two separate selections (International and Domestic) for this first Nations Cup says a lot about the size and complexity of the Asian market — too big and too varied to represent with a single team.
Eight captains, eight regions, one trophy. On October 30, in Texas, the first edition kicks off of a tournament that will likely become an annual fixture on the pickleball calendar — and DINK Authority will be there to cover it.
