US Baseball Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez’s dream school in the Dominican Republic is under construction in his home town Manoguayabo in Santo Domingo West. The Pedro Martinez Foundation and Dominican government project will be the country’s first sports high school.
The Pedro Martinez Foundation has already built several sports courts, open to play by the people who live in Manoguayabo. But the Complejo Educativo y Deportivo Hay Poder en Aprender (There is Power in Learning Educational and Sports Complex) with capacity for 840 students is described as the summit contribution by the legendary Boston Red Sox pitcher.
Martinez’s wife, Carolina Cruz is the president of the Pedro Martinez Foundation. She says the mega project should be ready to enroll students for the 2025-2026 school year, as reported in Diario Libre.
Diario Libre reports that the school was conceived by Pedro Martinez himself in 1998 following advice of Charles K. Gifford, at the time head of the Bank of America.
Already, a selection of elite MLB baseball academies have evolved to offer specialized baseball training but at the same time a school program for those staying at the center to graduate with high school degrees. The Go Ministry Christian church maintains a mega sports, English and vocational training program in Tamboril, Santiago.
But Pedro Martinez is taking the study and practice scheme to a new level to take advantage of the natural talents of Dominican young people in several sports and keep youth on the better paths. The new school will have an athletics track and several basketball and volleyball courts, of course, a baseball field, and a gym, among other sports facilities.
The school will be a pilot to be undertaken by the Ministry of Education for the public school system.
The mega school will be the first sports polytechnic in the country. It is going up in San Miguel, Manoguayabo, in the municipality of Santo Domingo West.
As his contribution to the mega project, in addition to being the driving force behind the plans, Martínez has made available 40,000 square-meter land plot that he bought in 1998. The government is building the school.
Martinez’s wife, Carolina Cruz herself is an elite volleyball player. She won a scholarship to play volleyball in the United States. Cruz met Pedro Martinez when she was studying journalism at Boston College. She later continued her journalism studies at the University of Miami. Cruz worked for ESPN. The couple married in 2005. They do not have children.
The mega school will have three-level buildings where workshops on technical courses such as crafts, computing, nursing, environment, security courses will be taught.
An Infotep-type vocational training center and a small clinic will be on the premises.
The actual school buildings will cover 2,470 meters.
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Diario Libre
20 February 2024