Physical education is the backbone of Cuban sport
The double Olympic monarch of Montreal’76, said today in Havana that “physical education is the backbone of the Cuban sports movement.”
Puntarenas, who is one of the Cuban Vice Ministers of Sports, today offered a keynote address within the framework of the First Latin American and Caribbean Physical Education Summit, which began today in this capital, with the participation of some 30 countries in the area.
El “Caballo”, as janitoring is known, said that in his country since the triumph of the Revolution, strategies were drawn up for popular access to sports and physical culture.
The double starter of the 400 and 800 meters in Montreal’76 indicated that an example of this is that 95 percent of high-performance athletes in Cuba come from school sports.
“Physical education is physiological, biological and pedagogical, it is a formation of values for life, of love for sports, for the homeland, it is collectivity, human solidarity, friendship, respect, and patriotism,” he stressed.
The vice president of the National Sports Institute (INDER), with ministry rank, said that on the island there are about three million students who receive physical education classes at all levels of education.
“Physical education is the backbone of the Cuban sports movement, that is why at the base of the pyramid of the sport of excellence in Cuba are the 25 thousand students of the sports participation regime, from which the future athletes for the Olympic cycles of the 2012 and 2016 “, he noted
“These results have been possible thanks to the development of successful social development policies, which have made it possible to achieve the training of human potential of more than 50 thousand professionals and technicians of physical culture, protagonists of these achievements, not only in Cuba but also in other nations, through international sports collaboration, “he added.
For his part, Daniel Lara, executive director of the National Institute of Physical Education (INEFI) of the Dominican Republic, sought the support of the governments of the region to promote physical education.
“All of our countries are the same, they are in need of projects and programs that receive government support to achieve a higher quality in the development of a subject that is a magic touch in the comprehensive training of the student,” Lara said.
“Apart from the benefits of physical education for the development of a healthy life, school sports, exercise, have added flyers, as they contribute to the occupation of free time, an action that prevents children and young people from falling into crime, drugs and other antisocial attitudes, certainly evident in many of our nations, “he said.
Today’s opening of the meeting was attended by Canadian Margaret Talbot, vice president of the International Council for the Pedagogical Sciences of Sport and Physical Culture.
Also present were Manoel Gomes Tubino, president of the International Physical Education Federation, Orlando Terre, president of the World Association for Special Education, Morella Joseph, of the CARICOM Secretariat.
The opening of the event, which will take place over three days, was also attended by José R. Fernández, vice president of the Council of Ministers and president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, and Christian Jiménez, member of the Council of State and Minister of Sports.
