By Yelibenwork Ayele

The Baseball Association of the Ethio-Cuban Friendship Association laid a cornerstone at Jan Meda in Addis Ababa last Saturday for the first baseball field in Ethiopia and officially formed a baseball club. 

The embassies of countries that play baseball such as South Korea, South Africa, USA, Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were in attendance at the ceremony.

The goal of the association is to introduce baseball game to Ethiopia and to create of an Ethiopian baseball federation, Gedeon Demeke, secretary of the Baseball Association said. The youth will be trained to play baseball and form a national club.

Members of the Ethio-Cuban Friendship Association used to play baseball in Ethiopia by themselves. The association is now encouraging its members living in the regions throughout Ethiopia to form clubs which will constitute a federation at the national level.

Now that the rainy season is over, the clearing of the field has already started and it will be ready for playing on as of next Sunday.  

When the first batch of Ethiopian graduates, about 200 people, came back from Cuba 21 ago they formed the association three years later and started playing baseball which they had learned while they were studying in Cuba.

Now the association has about 4,000 members, all of whom had studied and graduated in Cuba. They have formed branch offices of the association throughout the regions in Hawassa, Asosa, Adama, Harer, Jimma and other towns which are as active as the main branch in Addis Ababa. The branches will be entrusted with giving baseball summer courses for children in the regions.

Whenever the Maskal Square was not occupied by some event they were playing baseball there at the weekends for years until they stopped doing so eight years ago. Then they started playing at Jan Meda for some time with the Cuban community living in Ethiopia.

Gedeon said that when they were playing baseball at Maskal Square, children were watching with interest. “It is the kind of game that people learn easily and quickly and a highly emotional and lucrative game in America.”

The association will recruit and train school-children in Addis Ababa and have them play baseball at least once or twice a week. The Embassy of Cuba has promised the association to bring a coach from Cuba.

Gedeon Demeke said that getting baseball materials was not easy for the baseball association. They are using the materials the members of the association brought from Cuba many years ago. Some of the materials were brought by members who travel abroad.

The association has asked the embassies for material support and they have promised to help. It is planning to ask the Ethiopian Athletics Committee to register baseball as a spot.       

The base ball association aspires to make Ethiopia famous in baseball as it is in athletics. “Since the game is very simple to learn and play, we can form a strong club within a short time,” Gedeon said.

There will be a baseball game at Jan Meda next Sunday and there the association will announce the schedules of games to the public.