2020 was a black period for baseball and softball in Chile. After years full of complications and false promises, both disciplines lost the National Stadium as their only training place in the Metropolitan Region. The venue located in Ñuñoa underwent renovations for the Pan American Games in Santiago 2023.
In the midst of a struggle to get a place to train, the Chilean Baseball Federation managed to get some land in Cerrillos were the home of the discipline facing the Pan American Games to be held in the country. Now, in the community that practices the sport originating in the United States, concern arose over the rumors of recent weeks that spoke of the possibility that University of Chile will build its stadium in that place.
Vanessa Flores is 31 years old and is one of the best softball players in Chile. Coming from Venezuela, he arrived in Chile in 2015 and since then he has been in charge of contributing to the discipline in the country, one that before his arrival was very little known and practiced. For her, the U’s interest in the Cerrillos land was a “lack of respect.”
“When I arrived, softball was much less known than it is now. There were quite a few people who practiced it. Little by little I climbed the steps, making myself known. First they called me to represent Santiago and then for the Chilean team“, Flores points out in a dialogue with AS.
Venessa Flores training with the Chilean Softball Team.
– Do you already have Chilean nationality?
– It’s in the pipeline. It should catch up to tenera for the 2023 Pan American Games.
– How have you seen the evolution of softball in Chile?
– When I arrived it was totally null. I was asking taxi drivers if they knew where there were baseball or softball diamonds and they had no idea. It was quite difficult to get to know that in the National Stadium there was that kind of discipline. Over the years and the arrival of more immigrants, the sport has become widely known and we have grown a lot as a community. Every weekend there could be more than three thousand people passing through the National Stadium, playing baseball or softball. We haven’t had that facility for two years, because they eliminated it to make the Citizenship Park there. We are out of diamond. Since then we don’t know what to do or where to play. There are some people who have made private courts, but there is not enough for all the people who practice.
– Recently, the news came out that the University of Chile wanted to build its stadium on some land in the Cerrillos district, but that place is committed to creating a stadium for baseball and softball. How did they take that news?
– When it became known that they were going to take away the facilities of the National Stadium, there was a big dispute among the community. The federation had meetings with the minister and people from the IND. That was that in Cerrillos they were going to grant us a space. It was discussed and even signed. It is supposed to be the facilities for the 2023 Pan American Games. Suddenly they arrive with the information that supposedly the University of Chile was going to cede those spaces. We do not agree to give up even a little of what was promised to us for the Pan American Games. Obviously it caused us annoyance and it is a lack of respect. They do not give importance to discipline and they would be displacing us.
“The million dollar question is how are we going to achieve results if we don’t have the support to develop the sport”
– How is the issue of internal skills in Chile?
– Before the pandemic there was a league in Santiago, Antofagasta and Iquique. In fact, now I will travel to Tocopilla because there is a tournament of four to five teams on the weekend. There were all these regional leagues of five to six teams each. A champion team came out of each region and from there an inter-club team came out. With my team, which is called Lobas, we were champions in Santiago and traveled to Antofagasta. There was a team from Bolivia and Argentina as well.
– What are the expectations of the softball and baseball teams ahead of Santiago 2023?
– The federation got us a space in Quinta Normal and we have been training three times a week for some time. We make the greatest effort we can, we don’t have athletic scholarships, so we work under our own resources. Although we are not the strong ones in the discipline, we have high expectations and we were preparing very hard to leave the name of Chile very high in these games.
– How do you manage to endure the training days along with your jobs? Both disciplines are not professional in Chile and, as you mentioned, everything is up to you…
– Passion is what moves us. We all make sacrifices and efforts. We try to adapt to the schedules and make the space for ourselves to do the work that the federation asks of us.
– What is the next step for softball and baseball to grow in Chile?
– We long for a little more support and recognition. We have to achieve more results for them to give us support, but the million dollar question is how are we going to achieve results if we don’t have the support to develop the sport or even go out to compete, and thus generate competitive friction.
