A Major Surprise: Cuban Team to Compete in Quebec Baseball Tournament

It should be mentioned that the organizers of the baseball tournament left some clues on social networks of the arrival of the Cuban team. Their latest announcements were translated into Spanish.

Asked about the reason for these translations, tournament general director Daniel Fleury had no choice but to let the cat out of the bag.

“There will be a Cuban team in Quebec which will play in the AA division 1 category from July 11 to 14. It will be a selection of Cuban players made up of 11 players and three coaches. This will be the same team that will later play in the Little League World Series which is played in Williamsport and internationally renowned. It’s a very big blow!”

The manager has been working on the file since November 1 and received a little help in establishing the first contact.

“It’s very complicated, but I was able to benefit from the help of Raymond Boisvert who is a translator with the Capitales de Québec and who has a lot of contacts there. He was the one who established the communication channel.”

The general director of the tournament Daniel Fleury (Yan Doublet/Archives Le Soleil)

Significant enthusiasm?

Even if the Cuban athletes will be one year younger (12U) than the baseball players of the other Classic teams, Fleury did not hesitate to place this team in the highest category of his tournament.

“Cuba is a great baseball nation and that’s even more true at a young age. The athletes have been playing for a long time and they already have a lot of volume for their age. It’s also a selection, I expect a very high level of baseball.”

Fleury also believes that people will want to travel to see the Cubans play.

“I am convinced that if we filled the Videotron Center for Ukrainians for hockey, we will be able to fill Canac Stadium for baseball for Cubans. That’s the goal!”

—  Daniel Fleury

Young Cuban players will be accommodated with host families in the region. An experience which was very positive last year according to the manager with the French baseball players.

“We will once again have a French team which will play in division 3 of category AA. There will also be a team from Ontario. I make no secret that I would like to see the international component expand over the years by adding Mexico, the Dominican Republic and even Japan. We will still take the time to carefully assess how things will go with Cuba this year.”

It should be noted that it is difficult for the organizer to have access to American training due to the different rules that the Americans use for this age category (13U). The pitcher’s plate is further from home plate and the distance between the bases is also greater.

68 teams are registered for the fourth edition of the event. (Bob Bissonnette 13 U Baseball Classic)

Higher level

The fact remains that the tournament is experiencing meteoric progress in its 4th edition. Fleury firmly believes that the level of baseball will be the highest in its short history.

“We have just taken a big step forward. We had 10 teams the first year and we reached 68 teams registered this year with around 800 athletes and nearly 200 volunteers. We are spread over two weekends with category A and the women’s class playing from July 4 to 7. The 33 AA teams in the province have a mandatory passage to the Classic and our reputation is growing everywhere.

2024-05-08 08:01:41
#Cubans #Bob #Bissonnette #Baseball #Classic