HAVANA.- The President of the Cuban Council of State and Ministers, Miguel Díaz-Canel, attended the national seminar to prepare for the 2018-2019 school year in the Cuban sports system.

Granma newspaper reports that in front of more than 200 participants, this Thursday at the Cojímar Convention Center in Havana, where the meeting is currently in session, the Cuban president confirmed his confidence that the upcoming academic year in the sports centers will be successful, and insisted on adequate teacher training as the basis for success.

Diaz-Canel referred to the motivations that will mark the next school year, including the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the struggles for our independence, which, he said, must be an incentive for the classrooms to live and tell history in a pleasant and profound way.

Specifically about Cuba's honorable sports tradition, he said that events such as those experienced by that delegation from Cerro Pelado that did not yield to the obstacles to reach the X Central American and Caribbean Games, have to be told in schools, along with the courageous life stories of hundreds of Cubans who today are sports glories.

He spoke in favor of bringing to the classroom concepts such as unity, historical continuity, resistance, sovereignty and commitment to the Revolution that made of sports a right of the people, while at the same time combating phenomena such as banality, indecency, doping and human trafficking, the latter two closely linked to the international sports movement.

Diaz-Canel considered that difficulties should not be allowed to accumulate during the school year, that scientific research should be used in the face of any problems and that the key to successful work is to get closer to the grassroots and listen to those who are in the classroom and in the training camp every day.

He insisted on the preparation and self-improvement of teachers and coaches, who must be a permanent example for their students. He also advocated for responsible care for recent graduates, who should be involved in the decision-making of the centers where they are sent to work.

Regarding the cadres policy in the sports system, he said that, in addition to the fundamental cadres, it is necessary to work in a more conscious and planned way with those who run the centers where the athletes and the sports groups are trained. He particularly cited the case of baseball, where sometimes the subject is treated with improvisation and its directors are changed almost every year.

In his speech, issues such as the promotion of the national debate on baseball; the achievement of better school and youth games, which can be televised more frequently; the rescue of sports facilities; the improvement of physical education classes at all levels of education; and the permanent link that must exist between the Inder and the media, as well as the constant presence in social networks to bring the truth about Cuba and its sports movement to the world, from our positions.

Diaz-Canel said he was confident that the island will achieve a good performance in the Central American and Caribbean Games to be held this year in Barranquilla, and that the next school year of the Cuban sports system will also be successful, he said.