Sports
Fidel Castro's belief in socialism and the benefits of sports (he loves and has played baseball) has resulted in Cuba's relative international success for a population of 11 million in sporting events such as the Olympic Games. Unlike in most of Latin America, but like many nations of the Caribbean and some of Central America, football (soccer) is not a major game in Cuba, but is gaining popularity. Baseball is the most popular sport in Cuba. Introduced by American dockworkers in Havana in the 19th century, the game has played a role in Cuban independence from Spain. Banned in 1895 by the Spanish, secret games funded José MartÃ's revolt. Cuban peloteros rank highly internationally and some have migrated to Major League Baseball in the United States. The Cuba national baseball team finished second in the first World Baseball Classic against the Japanese national team. Boxing is also rather popular. They also enjoy basketball, track and field, volleyball, and rugby union.
Every year, Cuba holds the School Sports Games, a competition and is like the best for school students. The best athletes from age 11 to 16 are invited to be tested for the Schools for Sports Initiation (Spanish acronym: EIDE). EIDE students attend regular classes, receive advanced coaching and take part in higher level competitions. The top graduates from the school enter one of several Schools of Higher Athletic Performance (Spanish acronym: ESPA).
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Cuba
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Guys do not have a genetic blueprint that allows them to understand or love sports.”
—Lesley Visser, U.S. sports reporter and announcer. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 82 (June 17, 1991)
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“I looked so much like a guy you couldn’t tell if I was a boy or a girl. I had no hair, I wore guys’ clothes, I walked like a guy ... [ellipsis in source] I didn’t do anything right except sports. I was a social dropout, but sports was a way I could be acceptable to other kids and to my family.”
—Karen Logan (b. 1949)