USA-Cuba Sports Experiences has been a primary provider of competitive tours in Cuba for US youth and adult baseball and softball teams. While most previous USA-Cuba Cuban excursions have involved these two major Cuban national sports. We have taken additional teams to Cuba for junior golf, basketball, volleyball and soccer. Also, USA-Cuba has held numerous clinics in Cuba in baseball and softball for the purpose of sharing US coaching techniques with Cuban athletes, coaches, trainers, and sports program administrators. Today USA-Cuba—maintaining its extensive contacts with Cuban sports officials and with the Cuban coaching community can design and arrange for your unforgettable program to Cuba. As the largest, and most experienced provider USA-Cuba can tailor a program to fit any organization’s requirements.
Baseball is Cuba’s national game and the most popular sports activity on the island. Individual programs, tours and tournaments are easily arranged for youth (school and club) and adult baseball teams at anytime time of the year. Our usual baseball excursion involves one or more teams traveling and playing in Cuba for one week to ten days.
Baseball’s cousin, softball, is nearly as popular in Cuba as it is in the United States and has therefore been a primary focus of USA-Cuba sponsored programs and exchanges. We have in the past and will continue in the future to arrange Cuban tournaments with fast-pitch and slow-pitch teams and involving both local Cuban squads and visiting international teams. Exhibition matches can be arranged with the elite Cuban national women’s fast-pitch team and other top-notch Cuban softball squads (men and women).
Golf is growing in popularity in the Republic of Cuba and courses in Havana and Varadero have hosted past USA-Cuba golf programs. One of our most noteworthy and memorable events was the USA-Cuba sponsored junior golf program at Varadero in March 2001, the first such event on the island and one which opened the tourist resort at Varadero to Cuban citizens for the first time.
Volleyball and basketball are also increasingly popular sports in Cuba. Cuba’s womens’ national volleyball team is the best in the world and one of the greatest sources of pride for the island’s sports programs—second only to the national pastimes of baseball and boxing. Basketball is also gaining in popularity, especially in Havana. Tournament games can be arranged for US youth and school teams wishing to test their skills against Cuba’s ever-improving volleyball and basketball players.
Boxing and wrestling provide other opportunities for sports exchange programs in Cuba. Boxing is the island’s top sport outside of baseball and Cuba arguably provides the world’s best Olympic-level boxers. The Cuban national team captured the recent world team title in June 2002. Wrestling has also achieved increased attention in the Cuban Olympic movement. School teams are welcomed for tours in Cuba in these two long-popular sports, as well as in the Olympic sports of fencing and weightlifting which both maintain high profiles in Cuba.
Soccer was widely played in Cuba in the 1930s and has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. Cubans flock to television and radio to follow the World Cup every four years, even without a national team of their own competing. While Cuba is not a top-level soccer country, its national team is improving by leaps and bounds and young soccer players are today again a frequent sight in the alleys and bare lots everywhere in and around Havana. Tournaments can be arranged with youth teams at various age levels drawn from the highly successful Cuban sports academies.
All of our programs include game and practice schedule, facilities, officials, and insurance for the athletes, in addition to cultural activities and exchanges, sightseeing, and entertainment along with a team banquet and reception.
USA-Cuba can handle any request for sports tours to Cuba and works through the WAAC for participation in other international tournaments in all sports where available.