CubaPLUS Magazine

Sport and Science Team Up

By: Alfredo Boada / Photos: Calixto Llanes
Sport and Science Team Up

At the beginning of this year, sports authorities inaugurated the Cuban Sports Information Resource Centre, an institution that will enhance scientific sports development on the Island.

Sport and Science Team Up

Located in Havana’s emblematic Ciudad Deportiva, a venue that has hosted important events like the 1966 World Chess Olympiad, the 1974 World Boxing Championships and several World Volleyball League editions, the center will facilitate access to information and provide a forum for sharing experiences and debates on national sports related issues.

Melvin Morales, a Doctor of Information Sciences, told CubaPlus that the facility will also enable access to up-todate information on global sports through virtual consultations and other mechanisms.

The center aims to become a point of reference for Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin America.

According to Morales, the center will offer products and services of high technical and scientific value and provide access to the information needed to deepen the knowledge pool and increase competitiveness within Cuban sports as a whole.

Sport and Science Team Up

It will also contribute to the training of human resources and the development of an information culture. He added that the primary challenge is the collection of information on the basis of a comprehensive and modern systemic approach, to enhance sports management, operations, research and development.

Morales explained that Cuban sports need to constantly increase competitiveness through scientific and technological developments, which can only be made possible by the comprehensive information system that is the objective of this center.

The Information Centre will open new horizons for the national sports science field, at the start of new Olympic cycle in which Cuban sport hopes to surpass its latest results. The creation of the center allows specialists, researchers and officials to easily access common knowledge and other information of interest for sports and physical culture.

Sport and Science Team Up

Morales said that a number of sports databases are presently being evaluated, so that human resources within Cuba’s sporting system, be they researchers, coaches, planners, sportspersons or students, can benefit from a larger volume of quality information.

In today’s world, Morales explained, sports competiveness is associated with the creation of knowledge, and for it to be enhanced, science and technology must be available through a comprehensive information system.

The new center now forms part of the country’s sports science community, which encompasses the Sports Research Centre, the Sports Medicine Institute; the Anti-Doping Laboratory; the Manuel Fajardo University of Physical Culture and Sport Sciences, and the new Sinfo Technological Services Centre due to be officially opened soon.

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