Wednesday, 28 December 2011 17:12
GVSU players
The North American University of Grand Valley (Grand Valley State Lakers GVSU) baseball team will play a series of friendly games between January 3-9, 2012 in Havana and 13 of their veteran players will re-join the team for the future university tournament.
The Lakers will be the second baseball team from the United States to travel to Cuba to play friendly games since Barack Obama authorized cultural, academic and sport related contacts with Cuba. In 2008 a team from the University of Alabama played several exhibition games in different stadiums in Havana.
2011 was a memorable season for The Lakers, with a record of 52-5 and 32 victories in a row in the calendar, which makes them be a candidate for a place in the College World Series 2011.
No details have been released about the teams that will play in Cuba, but it seems as if their rivals will be players from the Cuban Junior Leagues. The professional Cuban baseball players will be playing at the 51 Cuban National Series which will resume its activities on January 3, 2012 after a short New Year’s break.
“We are enthusiastic about this opportunity to travel to Cuba and compete against some of the best players worldwide”, said David Lyon, who has trained The Lakers since 1999. “This will be a great learning experience for everybody involved and we think that our team will gain a lot from this trip to Havana," he added.
The Grand Valley State University – located in Allendale, Michigan – was founded in 1960 and is one of the most recognized state universities of the northwestern United States, with more than 24,000 students and an annual budget of $265,000,000 Dollars.
For the Cubans it will be an opportunity to watch a high-quality, live event, both in the stadium and on TV. This unique event has been made possible under certain conditions, considering the relationship between the two countries. We will be happy to be supporting and cheering for our team with enthusiasm, eagerness too watch baseball and a spirit that is so typical for us.
