Story of a local woman so huge in life and sports

 Belkis Cruz Alvarez is the protagonist of this story, tall, humble and very human above all things. So single she says thanks to life for the possibility of being covered with the kind blue sky, which means to her devotion to family, passion for basketball, children in the study, active athletes in sports, the land full of furrows for planting, work responsibility, dignity, and love for the country land.

I invite you to learn more about this remarkable woman who nurtures with her dreams, memories and aspirations, the eternity of the world.

First notes

As every Cuban child Belkis felt the satisfaction of being a pioneer, student category from which she took full advantage to the point of getting credits and awards for good behavior and excellent marks. She fondly remembers the distinction Kiss of the country, prominent pioneer seals, her participation in the Guerrilla teaching movement, night hikes, sporting, recreational and cultural activities and visits to Camilo Cienfuegos Students Palace in Camagüey. Thus, the girl with inexperienced face that surprised by her height also enjoyed the pleasures of childhood and gradually became a teenager.

The first steps in the sport

Already at Junior High level, to be more specific in the academic year 71-72, Belkis was elected to study at the School of Sports Initiation (EIDE) in the province of Camaguey, precisely she began there her career as a basketball player.

Her acting in Basketball

  She participated in the Camagüey provincial team in every school games, youth and second category from the year 71 to the 76 where she achieved four gold and three bronze medals.

In mid-1972 she was picked up for the Superior School of Athletic Improvement (ESPA) 'Marcelo Salado', there she joined the Basketball national preselection, team with which she attended several national and international championships: Habana Cup, Cuba Cup, friendly matches with Soviet, Canadians, Peruvians, Dominicans teams and others.

Details of international competitions

In the period between 1973 and 1974 she participates in the first Basketball Central American and Caribbean Championship held in Guatemala. In that event she climbed on the top of the podium and she was selected as leading scorer champion on the competitive tournament with 141 points.

The unexpected

In 1975 with an outstanding participation in the national youth games, Belkis suffers an injury in the left thigh, the result of a fall in a tie on a tour in Yugoslavia. Before this she decided not to continue in active sports, the injury also joined his father's illness, reasons that determined her verdict.

In a pinch, the answer

Already in Guáimaro she enrolls in the evening course of Accounting Assistant, the provincial Commissioner of Basketball visited her home and asked her to be incorporated back into the sport because the province team lacked of a central pivot. She takes part of the provincial youth team in the Cerro Pelado ESPA, at that stage of reinstatement she participates in provincial and national matches with headquarters in Santiago de Cuba and Ciego de Avila, after this new experience LOVE comes into her life, so she decides to retire from the active sport, get married and start a family.

From sport to the professional work

She graduates as assistant on Economics, She began her working life on November 14^th, 1997 in the Collective Feeding Company in Guáimaro. There she served as ideological, also responsible of sport, culture and recreation until 1985.

Already at the Collective Feeding Company she requested the occupation of Coordinator of Propaganda, a work she did with great responsibility.

She belongs to the Civil Defense, the Territorial Militia Troops (MTT), the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), and the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), taking responsibilities in every organization aforementioned.

Alvarez Cruz is part of the Municipal Committee of Commerce, Catering and Services. During her years as a worker she tirelessly surpassed herself, efforts which allowed her to represent the country at major conferences of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC).

In 1997 she joined the ranks of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and belongs to the Cuban Association of Propagandist and Advertising in Camaguey.

 At the end, unforgettable notes

So far, history notes on Belkis Alvarez Cruz, who was for many years the spokeswoman of the Retail Mixed Company in this region, the easternmost of Camagüey, ex athlete attached to the memory of a sport discipline that aroused in her many emotions, sufficient reason so even being still away from basketball courts she may be defined this way: "Basketball made me strong, boosted my spirits and cheered the best years of my adolescence and youth. today; being a woman, mother, retired, Cuban, I can state unequivocally that through sport I learned to confront without fear the specialty that busts the biggest challenges to human intelligence: Life ".

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