Recipient of Sayulita Life’s $5000 Donation: Jaibitos Jr Baseball Team

Sayulita Life’s $5000 donation will go to the Jaibitos Jr, the local junior baseball team. The donation will help buy 5 dozen new baseballs for their pitching machine which was donated a few years ago. This is very beneficial for training as it is used with a lot of repetition for the children to bat. With this donation, the baseball team will be able to continue training and competing in local events. We had the opportunity to hear from the head coach of the Jaibitos, Fernando Lopez, who told us a little about the young baseball team.

Can you tell me a bit about yourself? 

My name is César Fernando López Andrade, I am a Sayulita local, and 4 generations before me have lived here, my great-grandfather who was one of the founders of the Sayulita Ejido, Filamento Lopez Herrera, my grandfather Juan Lopez Villaseñor, and my father Oscar López Cruz. I remember practicing baseball since I was six years old in the Sayulita “Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez” field.

What is your favorite part of town?

My favorite part of my town has to be its people, its traditions, and above all the great love that there is for baseball, it has been practiced for more than 70 years in Sayulita, my grandfather Juan Lopez played and so did many of his friends.

The Jaibitos team has been around since we were very young, people like Mr. Juan Guerrero Rodríguez “rest in peace” as well as my father Oscar López Cruz were some of the people who have left a baseball legacy. Pedro Navarro has also been an avid promoter of this sport, (although he has not played in a very long time), we are back and more ready than ever to get our team together and continue to train with the hopes of representing the Jaibos team in the winter baseball league of Nayarit.

How many years have you been in Sayulita?

I am 36 years old and have spent all those years living here in Sayulita, I have tried my best to support the children and young people so that their desire and enthusiasm are not lost to play baseball.

I remember all of the previous coaches that I had here in Sayulita, they dedicated their time because of their love for the sport, although we know that baseball is a sport that is somewhat expensive, so we are now asking for some support, 50 pesos per child per week.

We will be putting this money towards the materials needed so that we can continue working on everything that this sport requires, physical and mental preparation amongst some other things that are needed in order to be better prepared.

Tell me about your career working within this industry?

I had to represent my state, Nayarit in the categories 9,10, 11,12, 13,14, 15, and 16. Our best participation was in Mexico, category 9 and 10, finishing fourth at the national level.

I have been the coach of the Jaibos de Sayulita team for 5 seasons in the Nayarit league. I have only been working with the children for about 9 months, but with great plans for the future and hope to give my town a championship at the state level. We have had some problems in our Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez sports field, but this won’t prevent us from continuing to work with future baseball players from Sayulita and its surrounding towns, like Bucerias, La Cruz, Higuera Blanca, San Juan, San José, Marcos because all of them are part of our municipality, which is Bahía de Banderas.

What are the future plans? 

We would like to have a better quality stadium, one that the sport deserves. I believe that it could improve our teams performance and could potentially be a space for other sports to be practiced. 

Is there anything special that you want to share? 

The most important thing is to leave good foundations for the future and to feel proud of the result of hard work, we want to leave a good image of Sayulita and its people, we are a family always striving to be better people.