Mutriku and La Habana

Last Sunday morning I went to Mutriku, a little fishing village near Ondarroa. When my wife and I got there, there were already a couple of hundred people inside the Miruaitz fronton. A jai alai festival was taking place. Minutes before the audience paid tribute to a bunch of local former jai alai players. Egaña, Altuna, Astigarraga, Beristain, Piston, Batacon, Urkiri...

   Great atmosphere inside the fronton. Many recognizable faces mixed with local fans. Katxin Uriarte, Alex, Goiogana, Bengoa, Totolo Urrutia, Lekube, Arratibel, Joaquin were there, along with younger former players that belonged to a new generation that I can not recall their names.

   Mutriku's local jai alai club is doing a great job with young kids. They have about 28 teenagers learning the job of pelotari. Mutriku, historically has a great jai alai tradition. Super stars like Piston, Ituarte, Churruca, Egurbide, were born in Mutriku. Dozens more came out from this town that offered two choices.
Become a fisherman or a jai alai player.

    Altuna, a former pro and a former jai alai teacher as well, told me. "Do you know the stones they used for building the main wall of this fronton are equal to the ones they used for building the La Habana's Jai Alai fronton?... "They came from a nearby quarry".

    Mutriku's frontis, main wall, it's a magnificent wall. Very natural, lively. Balls got off the wall fast, real fast. Anybody watching the partido at that moment could tell it. Egi and Goitia were fighting hard against Foronda and Felix. The cancha is not as long as a regular one, about 50 meters only, Floridas' are or were about 54 meters long. Mutriku's is a nice place to learn how to play jai alai.

     La Habana's fronton is 64 meters long, amazing long for nowadays parameters. Speaking about  La Habana's Jai Alai, a couple of days ago I got a movie documentary produced in Cuba in the 1950s. "Basque pelota in Cuba", the title of it. The film lasts about 20 minutes. You can briefly see among other images how these guys play like 50 or 60 years ago. A real catch-and-throw style. Nothing to see with the way it's being played since last decades. Evolution some people call it.

   For me watching the movie has been a great experience. First, you can see in there legendary players like Guillermo, Piston, Orbea I, Guara, Alex, Alfredo (Miami Jai Alai's former Players Manager) and others that I don't identify. Eguiluz, the mythical Players Manager appears as well.
   Second, now I can picture exactly how they played, fast, real fast, not time for catch-stop-one-two steps-throw.

  The film has its own limitations, its mute, it does not provide of as much time of playing images as I would like to see. On the other hand, it has a great historical value. A treasure. If anybody would like a copy just let me know it and I would do my best to get it for you.