Our Story (Espanol translation below)
In the summer of 2008, Chris Travers, an avid kitesurfer, came to Cabarete for a two week vacation. During a chance meeting, he was offered a teaching job at an international school there. He returned to Florida where he was the Head Coach at Cardinal Newman High School, but after some consternation, decided to go to the Dominican Republic on a one year contr
act, hoping to take a breather from the 24/7/365 grind of competitive basketball coaching. The first weekend there while biking around town, he spotted a baseball practice on a Saturday morning. On one field, three games were taking place: one at home plate, another in left field and a third in right field. Unable to resist his urge to coach, he volunteered with the local head coach to assist him with his infielders. After getting to know the players more intimately, it was hard to ignore their educational deficiencies and he realized that his non-native written Spanish was much higher functioning than that of the teenagers. Many of the kids also expressed to him that they were all in: it was major leagues or bust, which usually means abject poverty They had little to no understanding of the many in-between places to which their baseball skills could help propel them. A place was needed to where kids could be taught English and mathematics to supplement their low-standard public education system of ½ days and overflowing classrooms. Such a place could provide economically disadvantaged youth with high level athletic training, while obligating them to study/reinforce English and Mathematics. A place like that could significantly improve their opportunities upon entering adulthood. Hence, the idea of Juega Como Campeon (JCC) was born. While JCC will not cater to baseball players being that the country is filled with scouts, coaches, academies, agents etc… it will be a facility that focuses on other primary sports, especially ones that do not exist here for lesser means children such as golf, tennis and football. La historia de JCC (The story of JCC)
En Septiembre de 2008, Chris vino por primera vez a la Republica Dominicana. Unos dias despues, fui a una cancha de beisbol y vio unos 40-50 chicos practicando por todos lados. Tenis rotos, algunos sin guantes y otros mas dezcaldos. Y de una vez, estaba enganchado. Se puso a ser voluntario con el programa de beisbol por la pasion de los chicos y tambien era profe de matematica y de baloncesto y daba clases de ingles gratis en la noche al pueblo. Y en esa epoca nacio la idea de poner una academia deportiva bilingue para que los chicos de pocos recursos podrian venir a tomar clases de ingles y deportes, y gratis. Eso para que puedan recibir la misma oportunidad de los chicos mas adinerados. Desde entonces, la iniciativa de JCC esta trabajando con todo tipo de gente tratando de comunicarse con la gente que quieran ayudar a sus ninos y a su comunidad. Queremos ayudar a los chicos que logren cosas que ni siquiera saben que existen. Aprender bien ingles para que tengan una oportunidad del trabajo, ser becado por una universidad en el extranjero, y algunos logran una carrera profesional deportiva. Cabe decir que porque los entrenamientos son gratis que eso no sera de bajo rendimiento. sino retendemos ser la academia que brindara los entrenamientos de mejor reputation. Te invitamos a unirte al movimiento para sacar el mejor beneficio para tus ninos que quieran ser campeones.
