The Babe Ruth Baseball League under 16 selection team will be traveling to the Bahamas today, Tuesday, July 5, 2022, where they will compete in the first annual Babe Ruth Caribbean Championships in Nassau, Bahamas. The games are scheduled for July 7-11, 2022 and will be held at the Bahamas National Stadium.
The Sint Maarten Baseball delegation will be up against, but not limited to, teams from the Bahamas, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands, Holland, France, and Santo Domingo. Mr. Austin Helliger, Commissioner of the Babe Ruth League, is extremely ecstatic to see how these talented athletes will stack up against the regional competition. The selection has been practicing since January 2022 at the Jose Lake Ball park. They practiced four days a week accompanied by strength training on the weekends with Mr. Dimar Labega, strength coach at the following gyms; Fitness Attitude, First Class Fitness, and The Country Club at Port de Plaisance.
This will be the first baseball selection to compete in an international tournament since 2013. It is the intention of the League to one day host the tournament in Sint Maarten, which is already being taken into consideration by the Babe Ruth Caribbean Committee. As Country Sint Maarten continues to explore opportunities within Sports Tourism, it is paramount to have departmental cooperation as we continue to network abroad. Representatives of the Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Ministry and representatives of the sports department will be accompanying the baseball delegation to the Bahamas to get a first hand look at the structure and benefits of a tournament of this magnitude.
