U-15: The Older Speak

The performance of the Cuban U-15 team in the Baseball World Cup of the category still resonates in the minds of many, despite not winning the title. Some thought it was a surprise, but those who were with them on a day-to-day basis, think otherwise.

"We knew they were a tough team and they achieved what we expected from them, what happens is that sometimes we are given situations such as the study of opponents, that we did not have it prior the tournament," said exclusively for CubaSí Andrés García, pitching coach.

«It’s a group of great value and a lot of energy, that’s why they have high self-esteem. We never get intimidated, because that's what fans ask of us. We face this responsibility and it’s a group easy to direct, because they assume the tasks with great pride, they are very serious, despite their young age, and there’s the result, which is the most important thing. Now they go to the youth category and this work must be kept.”

For his part, the group's mentor, Alexander Urquiola, pointed out that when they were given tasks, the first thing they did was do a desk job very important to get to know them.

"We saw the pre-world cup matches and that helped us a lot to characterize to each of the athletes. We knew the lineage they had and that they could contribute a lot, we were well prepared for the tournament physically and psychologically, although we didn’t have enough knowledge of the rivals. The study was done in the same tournament and it helped us a lot. We always went with the day-to-day frame of mind, each game, to face the situations that were presented to us."

Finally, Germán Mesa, technical manager of the preparation, considered that this was a highly creditable second place.

«Whoever saw the final knows that the opponent was superior in pitching, with high speed. We’ve never had a pitcher in this category to throw 90-91 miles sustained, and even so we managed to hit and they fought in the pit. We were able to see very little and that’s very difficult because it’s not enough, we didn't know how the state of opponents. When you go to a battle and you know yourself, you have 50% won, but the other 50 % is the rival. If the latter is missing, victory is harder to attain, but we still faced them head on. They did their best, they played each game as if it were the last, as we asked.

"Anything could have happened in the finale, I'm very satisfied with them. They didn't surprise me and I'll tell you more: if it doesn't come to be because of the pitcher we had to face at the end, his quality was beyond this category, I thought we could run away with the title, because we trained hard for it. We lost, giving the hell of a fight".

Why were these guys playing so well and we were seeing too many mistakes, even mental, in the U-23 tournament?

“Those things happen; we have to continue working on those aspects. I believe that we're improving, and even watching these guys play helps as an inspiration not only to those of his age, but also to the older».

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff