Nova Scotia female baseball players heading to Cuba

Team of 24 also bringing $70K of donated equipment and school supplies

Hannah Shea thinks it will be a great experience for the girls from Cuba to have an all-girls’ team to play on. | CBC

CBC NS (Jan. 30) – Baseball season may seem a long way off, but for two dozen girls from Nova Scotia, it will begin next week.

A team of 24 is heading to Cuba and taking $70,000 worth of donated baseball equipment and school supplies to donate to young, female Cuban baseball players.

Baseball is the national sport of Cuba. While men and boys have organized teams and leagues, women don’t. However, that’s about to change next month when, for the first time, an all-women’s Cuban baseball team plays against two teams from Nova Scotia.

Hannah Shea is one of the players heading south in a few weeks. She said she’s looking forward to playing outside and giving Cuban women, who sometimes play on boys’ teams, a chance to practise and compete on their own.

“They just don’t really get a chance to play, so I think that this will be a great experience for the girls, just to be able to get on the field themselves and have an official girls team,” she said.

Trip will cost $1,800

Several boys’ teams from Nova Scotia went to Cuba last winter on a goodwill tour organized by baseball coach and tour company operator Dennis Woodworth.

This year, more teams are going and Woodworth convinced his Cuban counterparts to include two girls’ teams.

“We are the only sanctioned baseball exchange program in the province of Matanzas in Cuba,” said Woodworth.

Debbie White, whose daughter plays for an all-girls squad in Hammonds Plains, said the week is worth the $1,800 cost.

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