- Title: Venezuela baseball talent pool shrinks as food crisis grows
- Date: 8th September 2017
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 22, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS YOUNG VENEZUELAN BASEBALL PLAYERS AT PRACTICE VARIOUS OF FAMILY OF YOUNG BASEBALL PLAYER WATCHING PRACTICE VARIOUS OF YOUNG BASEBALL PLAYERS AT PRACTICE CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 29, 2017) (REUTERS) FAMILY OF YOUNG PLAYER THAT IS ENROLLED IN A PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL ACADEMY CARACAS NEIGHBOURHOOD ON HILL FAMILY OF YOUNG PLAYER WALKING TO THEIR HOME FAMILY OF YOUNG PLAYER ENTERS HOUSE MOTHER OF YOUNG PLAYER TURNS ON LIGHT MOTHER OF YOUNG PLAYER SERVING GLASS OF WATER FAMILY OF YOUNG PLAYER IN LIVING AREA YOUNG PLAYER WITH BALL AND GLOVE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CARLOS AND GREY MEJIA, FATHER AND MOTHER OF VENEZUELAN BASEBALL PLAYER SAYING: CARLOS: "It would be an achievement, a triumph." GREY: "We hope that his dream comes true and that it changes the economic situation for all of us, we'd move to a completely different level economically, but first and foremost it's that he's made his dream come true, and that's the first step to take to get to where you want to go." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 25, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KIDS PLAYING BASEBALL VARIOUS OF MOTHERS CHANTING VARIOUS OF CAROLINA TOVAR HUGGING HER SON BEFORE BASEBALL PRACTICE SOUNDBITE (Spanish) CAROLINA TOVAR, MOTHER OF YOUTH BASEBALL PLAYER, SAYING: "Today in Venezuela, the situation is very dire, and it really complicates it for us, and sometimes we're not able to find prices that are accessible, an adequate price for proteins, for fruits, for meat for our kid. The truth is that today the struggle has made us much stronger." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 22, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KIDS PRACTISING BASEBALL CLOSE SHOT OF FACE OF COACH WATCHING PRACTICE VARIOUS OF KIDS PRACTISING BASEBALL (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JOSE SALAS, BASEBALL AGENT, SAYING: "The dream for the Venezuelan family, for whatever Venezuelan family is to have their kid in an amateur baseball academy, it's easy to understand, that the dream is to get your kid into the big leagues this way, into the industry, and there's no doubt about that. And the flow of dreamers, as much the young kid as their families, that (want) this to happen grows day by day. Now, unfortunately, the great majority is less nourished than before, that's another fact, another truth." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 25, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KIDS PLAYING BASEBALL VARIOUS OF KIDS EATING LUNCH MOTHER OF YOUNG VENEZUELAN BASEBALL PLAYER, MAITE ESCALONA, HUGGING HER SON DURING BASEBALL PRACTICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MAITE ESCALONA, MOTHER OF AMATEUR BASEBALL LEAGUE PLAYER, SAYING: "Currently, we're living through a lot of sacrifices here in Venezuela, from the economic point of view, of everything. We have to leave behind the luxuries and not go to a park or the movies with the kids so that they can eat well and so they don't miss out on these sporting events. This is the dream, that our kids get in into a professional baseball academy and become professionals, that they become wealthy men, athletes, and that they put our name on the only good thing that Venezuela has right now, which is sports." CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 22, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF YOUNG BASEBALL PLAYERS PRACTISING
- Embargoed: 22nd September 2017 20:45
- Keywords: Venezuela baseball economic crisis malnutrition youth sports leagues
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Baseball,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0016XQNFIB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT 5291 IS NOT A NEW PIECE. IT IS BEING RUN TO REPLACE EDIT 4039 THAT ORIGINALLY RAN ON AUGUST 31, 2017 TO CORRECT NAME OF BASEBALL SCOUT IN #20 TO JOSE SALAS FROM KANDER DE PABLOS
Young baseball players from poor families in Venezuela are not getting the nourishment needed to propel them into U.S. professional baseball, with acute food shortages closing one of the few remaining avenues out of poverty in the recession-hit country.
With a record 76 Venezuelan nationals playing on Major League Baseball teams at the start of this season, the country's agent-operated baseball academies are likely to keep offering high-performing prospects to big league scouts.
The baseball-mad South American country is home to superstar players, including Detroit's Miguel Cabrera and Houston's diminutive but mighty second baseman, Jose Altuve.
Yet local agents and scouts say the country's food shortages will eventually take a toll, as kids from low-income families get starved out of academies that have become the only way to guarantee the kind of diet needed to build a major league player.
The live-in baseball schools are drawing from a smaller pool of talent because children from poor families are not strong enough by age 13 to compete for admission against their better-fed peers.
"We are seeing a 35 percent decrease in daily protein intake among players between the ages of 10 to 15," said Dr. Arnaldo Machado, a Caracas-based medical advisor to the Detroit Tigers. "And the nutritional situation is much worse for children six years old and younger."
Millions of Venezuelans have been struggling to eat properly in recent years amid triple-digit inflation and acute shortages of staples, including beef, milk and flour. President Nicolas Maduro blames a U.S.-led "economic war" though critics say his policies are the cause of the economic and social mess.
There are about 100 substantial, privately-owned baseball academies in Venezuela, which is MLB's second-most represented country after the Dominican Republic and well ahead of longtime regional powerhouse, Cuba.
Kids fortunate enough to get into the schools are fed six times a day, learn English, and take classes in anatomy and physiology. They are even tended to by psychologists to ensure they are prepared when and if they sign with a professional/big league team. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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