Fernando Caraballo Molina is one of the true handsome contemporaries of Yateras. One of those that his people need, because he doesn’t squeamish when it comes to “throwing forward”.
“I started in the Combined Sports of Yateras Happiness, as a custodian, and there I learned many things. I even became a physical culture teacher,” says the humble Guantanamo.
In his hands some shuttlecocks and tennis rackets badminton They confirm that when there is a will, all work is possible.
“They asked me to do it as a local sports development project and it came to be awarded as an innovation in a science and technology forum in the province,” he says in “his court” in the Felicidad de Yateras mountain range.
“Everything is made from recycled products, it has the dimensions for schoolchildren and pioneers and weighs almost the same as those made internationally industrially for those ages,” he says.
Disposable aluminum from the buses, fishing nylon, rods and wood are vital materials and a couple of screws for the rackets. The steering wheel is made from small plastic soda bottles and cork from flip flops.
“You appreciate that when we started thinking about how to practice badminton here we found out and only one racket costs around 190 dollars. Where are we going to get those dollars from?” he said.
From there it all started. Fernando, with the help of enthusiasts and friends, collected waste materials and built what today keeps several lovers of the sport of steering practicing in areas of the Turquino Plan of the Guantanamo mountains and vulnerable settlements.
“Here I have a group of boys practicing. I want some of them to go to the Rafael Freire School of Sports Initiation, in our province,” he says modestly.
“I know that for this I must study more, especially sports, to be able to transfer the knowledge and technique to my students. But we are already having results little by little”.
Fernando travels to Guantánamo every Thursday to train on badminton, confirms the graduate in Physical Culture and deputy director of the team Yadira Donatien Matos, a former Cuban youth record holder in javelin throwing.
BOXER TURNED INTO CARGABATES AND PHYSICAL CULTURE TECHNICIAN
“I started by practicing boxing at the Eide Rafael Freire when I was on the Caimanera road. This municipality has produced very good boxers. That and the ball here are passion,” he confesses.
“Sport is in my blood. After several comings and goings, I became a batboy for the Guantanamo team in the national baseball series, but as each director builds his command, when Agustín Lescaille left, that’s where I left.”
“Now Lescaille has returned to lead the Guerrero del Guaso, but my boys need me here. Those are our future and I prefer to teach them.”
Fernando has not only innovated in badminton. He has made a bell for boxing and a device to measure the rod in the high jump in athletics, among others.
Badminton is practiced in four Guantanamo municipalities and Yateras inserts it as a new sport, explains Deputy Director Yadira.
In Felicidad de Yateras is the command post of the sport in the municipality where the Piedra Zoo is located, the point marked by Meridian 75-002 in the cold area of Alto de Clarita.
In Yateras, the real “handsome” take on the production of food, grains and fruit trees, coffee and other products, while “bullies” like Fernando make their children stronger, healthier, to carry out the revolutionary project that ended there with the abuse of politicians and landowners since January 1959.
