One of my friends, a travel coordinator for a large US east coast university told me she has 33 student sport teams, traveling to compete around the globe, and that she books buses and planes year round, for their national and international sport exchanges.
She knew Aruba recently had a team traveling to the north-east of the US, for the Little League World Series.
This is how I was introduced to sport travel. It’s a niche, young athletes travel and compete, as part of their education. Aruba has not entered that niche market, yet, and as stated below, we have rejected all offers to help.
Brodie Carey wrote to me last week, about his frustrating attempts to introduce sport tourism here. He reported he was able to open a baseball facility here to give the kids a place to train, and that in August of 2022 his organization successfully hosted 108 people from Maine on a weeklong baseball trip.
Check out link: Academy Hosts Teams
But that is where his initiative got stuck. He is unclear why. Read for yourself:
Just to give you a little recap/some background info on my time here in Aruba.
After playing college baseball I began with yearly baseball camps here where I would bring guest coaches from the United States to help the local kids. I then was able to open a baseball facility, where we aided local student athletes going to study and play baseball in the United States. We were able to help with scholarship and aid money for many of these athletes.
Check out link: Paseo Signing
The next step in my business venture here in Aruba was to approach the government and other right parties about developing the baseball stadiums here.
Joe Laveist Sports Park: In January of 2024 I was here in Aruba and met with the Aruba Sport Unie. The Aruba Sport Unie is the owner of the Joe Laveist sports park. I met with Soraida Boekhoudt, Melisa Noguera, and Jos Maduro. A month later I was then presented with a letter from their lawyer. I reviewed the letter and then met with ASU once again. We agreed I would draft a contract. I drafted a contract and sent it to them on May 13th. Unfortunately, after no feedback I reached out to them multiple times with no success. After spending thousands of dollars in lawyer fees it was tough to believe the lack of professionalism from that organization.
Nadi Croes Stadium (Winston) and POS Chiquito: In March we also met with the board of Lotto pa Deporte. The meeting was very promising, and they seemed very excited and on board for this project. They even said we had the approval of Minister Endy Croes. Shortly after that Eric Mohammed of Lotto gave us a stadium tour so we could inspect the grounds of both fields. Talks continued with lotto particularly Mr Kenneth Bikker. We then were asked a few questions which we answered with precise details. After more than a month of no reply we managed to get into contact with lotto. We asked them to provide us with a timeline on when they would like to execute this project. Once again, we received no answer. Still to this day no answer.
Overall, I not only presented both groups with in-depth details but also invested substantial money into these negotiations. The lack of responsiveness and mere respect for that is appalling. I feel it is also important to add that Minister Endy Croes has met with me and others involved in the project, and you can add him to the list of unresponsive people.
Check out the link: Minister Endy Croes at the Baseball Academy
All these parties were made aware of the large sum of money we were ready to invest into these facilities. It is also important to note that my organization was ready and willing to put up all the capital needed for these projects. In return we were asking to manage the fields for a certain period of time and at the end of that period we would return the fields to the current owners with all improvements we made. It was a win-win for Aruba. I think it is important that the community of Aruba know this as this is something that will directly affect them and future generations to come. After living in Aruba for many years I know at the end of the day this will not change anything. But for me it is important for this message to be conveyed so the people of Aruba know the opportunities they are/will be missing out on due to the lack of responsiveness from their elected and appointed officials.
If you need any more information, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Thank you again.
Regards,
Brodie Carey
+1 508-455-7138
All documents were attached to support all claims made in the letter.
