Baseball in Cuba is much like what you would expect it to be. Most fields are not well-maintained, and the players have little equipment. “But the difference is,” Siler says ,“that Cubans have a love of the game that most kids in the states don’t have. [The Cubans] are just happy to be out there.”
Calien
do talks with the guys about how good the talent is out there. Santana says, “Cubans work tremendously hard. Even though some kids didn’t have bats, we gave them major league bats that we had with us, and they were still making solid contact with the ball even though the bat was most likely way to heavy for them.”
Not only are there differences in how Cubans treat the game, but there is also a difference in the technique in which they field the ball. “While in the states,” Santana says, “kids are taught to funnel the ball in, Cubans field the ball one-handed. It makes them trust their hands.”
Santana goes on to talk about the difference in the way the U.S and Cuba teach a “prep step.” “In Cuba we focus on never being flat footed, and that usually happens when a player does a two-step prep step. Cubans tend add a jump, [but] U.S players usually just takes two steps.”
Finally the guys talk about errors. Spillman says, “Just because a player makes one error he thinks it’s the end of the world. Players need to just forget about it and move on to the next play. It’s not the end of the world if you make an error. Just move on.”
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