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NSAF planning June meet in Cuba - DyeStat

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DyeStat.com   Jan 23rd 2015, 2:30pm
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NSAF venturing into Cuba for meet

 

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

 

The National Scholastics Athletics Foundation already had its eye on Cuba as the site for a 2015 track meet, but the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba could make staging the event a little bit easier.

 

The NSAF, which is the same organization that puts together the New Balance National championships (indoors and out), plans to select 28 high school U.S. athletes and take them to Havana for the Caribbean Scholastic Invitational.

 

The CSI is returning after a one-year hiatus and was last held in Puerto Rico in 2013. That U.S. team included well-known names like Devon Allen, Ky Westbrook and Dior Hall.

 

But other nations in the Caribbean do not have an easy time traveling into Puerto Rico, which requires a difficult and expensive process to obtain U.S. travel visas. It’s actually easier for all of those countries to send athletes to Cuba.

 

The NSAF board approved of the venture last October and then applied to the U.S. Treasury Department to in order to obtain a special license. The group’s plan also needed approval from the State Department.

 

There 12 categories of travel permitted for U.S. residents going to Cuba, and sports competitions is one of them.

 

The NSAF has developed a deep list of prospective high school athletes and will begin notifying them soon that they must have a valid passport by March 15 in order to be considered for the trip. (The NSAF will pick up the costs of the travel visas). Participation at New Balance Nationals Indoor isn’t mandatory but could be a factor in who is selected because it will give NSAF officials a chance to discuss the trip person and evaluate performance.

 

The loosening of certain travel and economic sanctions that have been in place for more than 50 years may be a sign of changes yet to come but they do not affect much about the CSI meet. U.S. travelers are still not allowed to travel to Cuba as “tourists,” and it’s unclear whether they can attend the meet as a chaperone or personal coach.

 

“We’re just going to take underclassmen,” NSAF spokesman Steve Underwood said. “We view it as a developmental opportunity. It’s a way to give kids a first taste of international competition.”

 

The June 13 date is one week prior to the New Balance Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C.

 

The 14 boys and 14 girls who are chosen will not cover all events. The CSI does not include distance events and it does not include the pole vault (primarily because many Caribbean nations do not have depth in those events). The chosen athletes would travel as a group under the supervision of NSAF officials.

 

It is believed that this trip with U.S. junior athletes will be the first to enter Cuba since the 1997 Pan Am Junior Games.

 

For that reason alone, it figures to be an historic occasion.



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