Enjoyable Panel on “The World Baseball Classic and Baseball Today” / Estado de Sats

Antonio Rodiles (moderador), Iván García, Leonardo Calvo y Luis Medina.
Antonio Rodiles (moderator), Iván García, Leonardo Calvo and Luis Medina.

HAVANA, Cuba, April 1, 2013, Pablo Mendez. On Friday March 29 State of Sats held a session on the recently concluded World Baseball Classic at its headquarters on 1st Street between 46 and 60, in the Havana neighborhood of Miramar.

Sergio Girat, administrator of the blog “Major League Baseball Clubs in Cuba,” part of the Cuban Voices Portal platform, gave a brief introduction about the modest results of the Cuban team that participated in the recently concluded World Baseball Classic, passing the microphone to the usual moderator, Antonio Rodiles, who then proceeded to present the panel, composed of Ivan Garcia, Leonardo Calvo and Luis Medina, journalists and knowledgeable bloggers.

The comments focused on the decline in the quality of the principal national pastime, along with to other disciplines such as volleyball, athletics and boxing. Nevertheless, the panelists agreed that despite not fulfilling the prediction of reaching the semifinals in San Francisco, the Cuban team did a good job make it to 5th place. Also, many of those present felt that the national team would have been a strong candidate for the trophy, if the Cuban players had included those with major league contracts.

They recognized that the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were revealed as world powers; also the celebration of the World Baseball Classic was a success, despite the constraints imposed by some organizations of for-profit baseball and European supremacy in the official structure of the International Olympic Committee.

As the main drawbacks of the national sport, tactical-technical deficiencies were enumerated, as evidenced by the elevation of the level of play following the entry of professionals in the leads, insufficient nutrition of the athletes, loss of land to practice the sport — only in the city of Havana does it surpass the number 50 — the high prices of sports equipment, absence of the best coaches in the first line, and the disappointment of players because of low incentives, among many other dilemmas.

The majority concluded that the high performance sport demands resources that are not available due to the disastrous economic management of the Cuban Government. Also, all warned that if there’s not an opening for the national sports talents to sign contracts with other leagues, our “baseball,” despite our 150 years of experience, will self-destruct.

This article was written by a good fan of Major League Baseball.

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Audiovisual materials presented
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Audience members listening to the panel.
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Attendees looking at materials distributed.