Eduardo Paret SPOKE: His reality in the United States and what he thinks of the new Villa Clara

By Yasel Porto

After developing his entire career as an active player in Cuba, Eduardo Paret from Villa Clara completely changed his perspective on life together with his family for some time.

Prior to the arrival of the virus that has plagued the world for the past two years, the once-stellar shortstop had traveled to the United States and settled in South Florida to this day. With the help of some friends initially, among them Jorge Luis Toca, and later with his own sacrifice and that of his wife, they have come forward in their new social environment.

Although his main job has not been tied to baseball, Paret has always looked for a way to maintain the connection. And well he has achieved it, because it is rare not to see him every evening at Tamiami Park in the work he develops with children and young people. Also, from time to time, while time has allowed, he has taken the opportunity to play in the same place with former teammates and friends.

I recently met up with the former first batter of the Villa Clara and Cuba teams at the Real Café de Miami cabaret restaurant, an occasion that I took the opportunity for Paret to tell me about his reality today along with other topics of interest such as the selection of his province in the new season of Cuban baseball.

Resident in the United States like his wife and daughters, he also recently received the good news of the arrival of his eldest son. At the moment he is working in Doral in something completely removed from the sport, but he always has a gap to maintain his presence in Tamiami (near the International University of Florida) late after afternoon with almost no alteration.

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As he also allocates a space from time to time to spend time with friends, whether they are fellow baseball players, fans and journalists at the aforementioned Real Café (9600 and 8 calle del SW), a place that has long become one. one of the favorites for sports lovers.

He also goes there to interact with many followers of Spanish football and, specifically, of Real Madrid, which after Villa Clara and the national team is his greatest sporting passion on a collective level.

The Olympic champion of Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2006 sent a message to the Sugar Leopards that from this January 23 they will begin a difficult task in the 61st edition of the National Series. Even with the presence of the mythical Pedro Jova, Paret considered that the panorama would be very complex but left an open door for his team to which he conveyed the best wishes in every way, especially the staff.

With the modesty that characterizes him, he also referred to all those inside and outside Villa Clara who admired him so much as an athlete and who still maintain that high respect for the man that not a few point out as the most comprehensive shortstop who has passed through the National Series .

Despite a career cut short by an unjust temporary sanction, the statistics and results in general of the native of Santa Clara place him in an indisputable elite that could even transcend the borders of his position. Very few non-professional Cuban players have had the impact and popularity achieved by Paret in the last decade of the previous century and the first of the current century.

Paret decided to withdraw from Cuban baseball after the mismanagement of his departure as manager of the sugar establishment by the Villa Clara authorities. Just two seasons at the helm including a debut year in which he led the team to the discussion of the title of the Island against Las Tunas (2018-19).

But in the following campaign, the large number of casualties and the low performance of certain figures made it impossible for the orange team to qualify for the second stage, which led to a trip that Paret had to take for personal reasons so that the leaders of Villa Clara They will remove him from the shit with a wrong and disrespectful procedure.