Havana, Dec. — In a corner of Cuban sports where the noise often doesn’t reach, Baseball5 today raises its voice with the strength of a truth built through effort, sweat, study, and conviction.
It was not born in stadiums or under spotlights. It was born in the streets, in the popular game of four corners, in the creativity of a people who have always found in baseball a form of expression. And today, transformed into an international discipline, that same spirit supports a sport that demands respect, understanding, and support.
This is how it is defended with arguments and knowledge by its main architect in Cuba, the national head coach Eros Bernal, one of the most authoritative voices to speak about the phenomenon.
"Baseball5 is a sport in every sense of the word," Bernal reiterated exclusively for Prensa Latina, explaining that it encompasses all the technical and methodological components of a high-performance discipline.
Hitting, running, fielding, throwing — although without a bat — require precision, mental speed, extreme coordination, and physical preparation that allows no improvisation.
"It is not a recreational game; it is a team sport with high demands and a level of rigor comparable to any high-performance discipline," he emphasized.
The coach has also been clear in explaining why many still view it lightly. The closeness to traditional baseball and the cultural rootedness of street play lead to confusion about its essence.
But, as Bernal insists, Baseball5 is not an improvised variant: it is an officially recognized discipline by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), with its own regulations, competitive structure, and a defined international pathway.
That path has had Cuba as a pioneer. It is no coincidence that the WBSC chose Havana for its first international workshops in 2019.
It is also no coincidence that the country has claimed all the world titles at stake, nor that the youth team was chosen this month as the Best Sport of the Year in Latin America in the sixty-first Sports Survey of Prensa Latina. These are results that speak of a serious, sustained, and deeply human process.
Bernal often insists that the greatest value of Béisbol5 lies in its essence: "It was born from a popular game, but today it is a discipline with its own identity, demanding study, planning, and the science of training."
For this reason, he advocates that it be regarded with the same seriousness as any other established sport, because behind every title there are hours of preparation, analysis, corrections, and total dedication from athletes and coaches.
Béisbol5, moreover, connects the past and the future. It recovers the memory of the streets and transforms it into a modern, inclusive, and universal proposal. It is no accident that more than 100 countries already practice it, nor that about seventy actively compete in the world ranking. Nor that Cuba, where it all began, continues to lead the way.
Therefore, more than asking for recognition, this sport demands understanding. Understanding that its greatness is not only in the medals — four world golds — but in what it represents: the ability to reinvent itself without losing its identity. As Bernal aptly summarizes, Béisbol5 did not arrive to occupy someone else’s space, but to create its own.
And in that space, born from the street and elevated to the international stage, beats an undeniable truth: Béisbol5 is Cuba playing its own future.
(Taken from Prensa Latina)
