Princeton University Athletics
Track & Field Blog from Cuba - Day 4
June 22, 2015 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Day 4 Video
Day 4
It's Meet Day! Today was a super early morning with the first bus leaving at 7, and the second at 8. The resort was nice enough to open the buffet restaurant early for us to have breakfast. It was an hour drive to back to Matanzas from Varadero. We were told the track hadn't been used in years and they had re-opened it just for us. When we walked in there were locals all around the track ready to watch us compete.The Cuban athletes were mostly teenagers. The difference was noticeable between the teenage girls and the Princeton women, in terms of growth and size. It was fun a meet and we all cheered each other on. We even got a clap chant going on the distance races and for the long jumps with the locals. Some locals were perched on their balconies or roofs to watch as well – even a rottweiler had his paws on the top of the railing to check it out.
The Cubans put together a tremendous opening and closing ceremony for the meet. The opening ceremony had a dance number while the closing ceremony were formal presentations of “diplomas” given to the top three in each event on a podium.
The meet lasted about five hours, and afterwards we went to lunch at Ruinas de Matasiete with some of the Cuban athletes. It was fun to be able to converse with them and share backgrounds and experiences.
It was a super hot day and with being in the sun some of us were sporting some sunburns while the heat was super draining. We had a few hours of downtime to cool down before our last activity of the night, a trip to a local community.
It was explained to us that each neighborhood has a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). We went to a CDR in Varadero. There are three apartment buildings with a basketball court in the center where we all gathered. They had made us food and all the kids came out to play with us. A group of young girls had painted their faces like the Cuban flag and performed a dance number for us. We had a pull-up contest, danced, played soccer, danced, talked and danced. Did I mention danced?
It was awesome to play with the kids. They were all so excited to have us there and we it was a great experience.
Q&A with Zoe Sims and Tom Scott
What was your favorite part of the day today?Zoe: The competition was a huge highlight, but I really enjoyed tonight meeting with the community group. It was really incredible to see how the whole community was out there at this block party and really incredibly happy to meet us and talk to us. They were very open about their lives, wanted to ask questions of us and tell us about themselves. They all know each other in that community. We were standing in a small basketball court, surrounded by apartment buildings with laundry hanging out to dry, families sitting up on their balconies watching, all the kids were out and families out with their kids. It was very much a town-square feel and it was really special to see a part of that culture and be incredibly welcomed into it.
Tom: I thought the community event was great as well but I think my favorite part of the day was the competition. From the beginning they were very welcoming and very excited for us to be there. They had a great opening ceremony. I was a little worried about how we were going to walk the line between it being competitive and being a friendly meet, because it's a difficult sport to not take super seriously. It was really fun. Everyone took it seriously but everyone had fun at the same time. High fiving everyone afterwards, exchange gifts, exchange t-shirts. Overall it was just a great time.
What was your favorite part of the meet?
Tom: Probably hearing all the fans cheering during different parts of the meet. Having the clap build ups for long jumps or chanting for the 4x1. It was really exciting to see the spirit that both sides had.
Zoe: I spent a bit of time talking to families and kids that had come to watch the meet. It really struck me how into they all were. There were kids who had come from pretty far who weren't even competing in the meet, and had just come to watch. I really got the sense that they were huge track fans, and aspired to be sports teachers, trainers or athletes themselves that is a really interesting part of the Cuban system were sports are such an iatrical part of education from a very young age. To see such respect and excitement about track.
What did you do during your free time today?
Tom: I took a cool shower, drank some of Ciegro Montero orange juice in my fridge, briefly went to the pool and then to the great buffet that they have.
Zoe: Pretty similar but I'm going to augment that with a nice nap and I got in the ocean and swam out to see what's out there. I saw some starfish, couple fish. I couldn't find the coral yet but I'll try again tomorrow.
We have a free day tomorrow, what are your plans?
Tom: Definitely go to the beach, I wasn't able to go today but I heard it's really nice. Starting out the day putting on sunscreen and spend as much time as possible at the beach.
Zoe: I'm on board with that. I'm a full biology nerd so I'll be on an organism hunt to try to find the reef. They tell me it's near and it's beautiful so I'm not going to miss it.