Culture Shock
Lázaro Martínez of Cuba won the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championship in the triple jump with a leap of 56-2.
The city of Havana caters to tourists, but Spier says the athletes are still in for a culture shock upon arrival.
"It was eye-opening," he said of the NSAF trip in January. "Everything is sort of rundown, the track is in really bad conditions so the kids are gonna have their eyes open to that, what professional athletes [in Cuba] have to train on. I don’t think the track has been resurfaced in 20 years. The runways are down to the concrete. And we knew that going in, but we said, 'let's let the kids see how it is, how the other half lives, and kids who triple jump 56 feet and what they train on.'
"They're very ingenious."
The competition is sure to be fierce. Ward may be a double national champion indoors, but Cuba boasts the defending IAAF World Junior Champion and 56-2 triple jumper Lázaro Martínez.
Perhaps what may be even more challenging for the group of teenagers is staying off their iPhones. Internet cards will be available for purchase at $5 for half an hour. After 30 minutes is up? Bye-bye, wifi.
"No internet, no texting, nothing!" Spier said.
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- Press Release: Nation's Elite to Compete at NSAF Caribbean Scholastic Invitational
- National Scholastic Athletics Foundation
- Learn more about the NSAF Project Triple Jump and how to apply
- Learn more about the NSAF Project Kultan Keihas - Javelin Gold and how to apply