Sport in Cuba

Due to historical associations and geographical location with the United States, Cubans participate in American popular sports.

Instead, baseball is the most popular team sport along with volleyball, wrestling, basketball, sailing, boxing, and trekking.

The media was tailored to increase national pride by reporting on athletes' victories in international competitions.

[5] The strategic management of sports was crucial for revolutionary officials to achieve their goals for the new society.

When Fidel Castro rose to power he reshaped Cuban values, norms and attitudes.

[7] In modern Cuban society, sports and physical education begin when a child is only 45 days old.

[6] In 1961, two years after the Revolution, the National Institute of Sport, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) was created.

[10] All primary and secondary schools in Cuba teach sports and physical education as a compulsory subject.

There are five sports taught in all standard secondary schools: track and field, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, and volleyball.

[6] More than 27 of these specialized schools are located on the Isle of Youth, a 2,200 square km island to the south of Cuba.

All of the students are required to put in 3 hours of work a day picking or canning fruit.

As of 1978, the Cuban Junior Olympics involved 20 sports: chess, weightlifting, athletics, tennis, football, table tennis, basketball, gymnastics, modern gymnastics, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, volleyball, water polo, cycling, fencing, judo, roller derby, roller hockey, pistol shooting, baseball, and wrestling.

[10] Cuba's new sports program allows the best players to retire early and take up position on teams in other countries.

However, this outflow of the best athletes and trainers began to take its toll when in 1997 Cuba ended its 10-year, 152-game, winning-streak at the baseball International Cup after losing to Japan 11 to 2.

[11] After this, Cuba began to offer material incentives like houses and cars to good players to keep them from playing for other countries.

[10] These offerings were not meant to keep completely talented Cubans from leaving the country, but instead to keep the system balanced.

[4] In addition, through international competitions, people around the world can observe the difference between socialist and other government systems.

[13] The hope is that through the success of sports, other countries will see the superior system of government that Cuba has in place.

[7] By doing so, sports brought "nationalist values and non-monetary rewards together in support of the development of the country".

[7] Through sports, Cuba has created a reward system that is not of monetary value but gives opportunities in the state for the players.

Castro believed that young people on the island were becoming too Americanized and wanted Cuba to feel more affinity with the Caribbean.