When Righetti High School sophomore Jaden LyBurtus found out that he would be spending five days in Cuba over winter break, he started scouring the Internet to try to familiarize himself with the far-off island.
“I tried to read up on Cuba before I went; I didn’t want to be too clueless,” LyBurtus told the Sun.
LyBurtus, a 15-year-old standout centerfielder for Righetti, was selected in December by the national baseball club, MVP Baseball, to participate in the organization’s “Cuba Friendship Games.”
The chosen team, comprised of top high school talents and some college players, was given the opportunity to have a cultural exchange abroad, as well as to compete against some of the world’s best baseball talent.
As it turned out, no amount of beforehand research would prepare LyBurtus for the experience he’d have.
“I got down there, and it really wasn’t anything like what I thought it was going to be,” he said. “The first thing we did was hop on a tour bus and they took us to this Cuban restaurant. They had us try all these weird foods. I didn’t know what to expect.”
It was his first time outside the U.S., and LyBurtus said he was particularly struck by the visible economic hardship and inequality in Cuba.
“It was either nothing, or a lot,” LyBurtus said. “We went to, I think it was, the best restaurant in Cuba, and as soon as you walked back outside, it was really just nothing, torn-down streets.”
Despite that culture shock, LyBurtus said that the people he encountered welcomed the team with enthusiasm.
“They were super nice people,” he said. “We’d be walking to a restaurant and they’d stop and pull my arm and say, ‘baseball?’”
Havana, the capital city, served as the team’s home base. Each day, they traveled on the charter bus to different villages on the island where they played their games.
“We’d be driving in the middle of nowhere, mostly fields, and pop up into a little village,” LyBurtus said. “And then within that village, there’d be a baseball field.”
The meticulously prepared baseball fields were the first indication to LyBurtus that these games were going to be like no others he had played.
“It was perfectly prepped,” he recalled. “They had chalked all the lines by hand.”
And upon their arrival for a game, the opposing team wasn’t the only group at the field waiting to greet them.
“Basically, the whole village would be there,” he said.
The crowds at the games spoke to the strong baseball culture that is part of the heartbeat of Cuba.
“That’s what they do: When there’s a baseball game, they show up,” LyBurtus said.
As the days passed and word got out that an American team was on the island, the amount of people showing up to the games, and the buzz surrounding them, grew.
“They spread the word,” LyBurtus said. “By the third game, 1,500 to 2,000 people were there. They were standing on our fence because there was no space. Everything was packed.”
Baseball-wise, LyBurtus was impressed with the skill and athleticism displayed by the locals, as his team went winless on the trip.
“The [Cuban] players don’t make mistakes,” LyBurtus marveled. “If you hit a ball in the gap and it’s not 50 feet over their heads, you might as well start jogging back to the dugout, because they are there already.”
The games were bookended by pre-game and post-game ceremonies that included jersey and equipment exchanges. LyBurtus received three Cuban jerseys in total, and he gave away cleats and batting gloves.
For LyBurtus, the jerseys are just tangible things to bring home to honor the experience.
But for the Cuban players, the receipt of LyBurtus’ equipment was like an essential donation.
“They were extremely happy and thankful for whatever we had to give them,” he said. “They actually needed it.”
After one game, LyBurtus asked the other team’s shortstop if he wanted to trade jerseys. The player signaled that he didn’t.
But as he walked away LyBurtus noticed something about the player’s shoes.
“They had like holes,” he remembered. “They weren’t even cleats; they were like sandals. So I took off my cleats and gave them to him. I started walking back, and he called me over and took off his jersey and gave me his jersey.”
Returning back home on Jan. 1 was more jarring for LyBurtus than he expected.
“It was another culture shock, after being there and adapting for six days, then coming back and seeing what we have here,” he said.
Righetti baseball coach Brian Tomooka told the Sun he was thrilled LyBurtus was able to have the international experience.
“It’s great any time you can get out of the area and see how things are done somewhere else,” Tomooka said.
Tomooka said that LyBurtus is a special talent, and “one of the best players” who’s ever come through Righetti.
He was the youngest player on the team that traveled to Cuba.
“He’s real mature for his age,” Tomooka said. “With his work ethic and his leadership abilities, he’s just going to get better and better.”
With the 2016 high school baseball season looming, LyBurtus’ biggest takeaway from the trip came from a powerful conversation he had with a Cuban coach through a translator.
“The coach was saying that for some of the Cuban players, baseball is all they have,” LyBurtus said. “So when they play, they play straight from the heart, with everything.
“For me, that motivates me to play more from the heart,” he added. “I’m just really thankful for all the opportunities we get to have here. The gear, equipment, coaching staff, places, time—everything.”
Contributor Peter Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 14-21, 2016.