Cesar Bolivar Mendizabal: "Thanks to the World Pilota Council, plans are in the way to construct a fronton in Bolivia in 2008."

Cesar Bolivar Mendizabal is the President of the Bolivian Federation for pelota fronton. He is from Cochabamba, Bolivia and accompanied two pelota players from the province of Sacaba to play at the 2007 Euskal Pilota championship in South San Francisco, California. In this exclusive interview with EuskoSare, he talks about the future of pelota in Bolivia. Although Cesar is from Bolivia and speaks Spanish and Quechua (Native American language of South America), his roots come from the Basque Country. His grandparents came to Bolivia and were active pelota players. He passed on this tradition to his sons who are avid pelota players and hopes to spread pelota throughout his country of Bolivia.

Tell us about your views on pelota.

We must first look at the world of pelota from within our own country. So, for us, it’s quite challenging because we cannot count on international frontons (handball courts). We have frontons but they are “a la Boliviana.” They have three walls, two lateral ones and a frontis. So, our form of the game is very different to the one here. In order for us to keep up with this game of Basque pelota is a bit difficult and uncomfortable. For example, even the pelota itself is different. The pelota with which we play with is small, between 60-65 grams and when we come to participate in these international events, we have to play with a much bigger ball with weights of 105 grams. However, I have seen that the players we placed in this international event have been able to respond very well and I am very proud of our Bolivian players.

We have always tried to participate in all the international tournaments. What I appreciate the most now, and for which I applaud tremendously, is that the World Pilota Council has not only called upon the creation of tournaments and competitions, but the Council is supporting the actual spreading of the sport. From this point of view, we are very grateful for that.

How do you see the future of pelota in Bolivia?

I see a very promising future. In fact, thanks to the World Pilota Council, plans are in the way to construct a fronton in Bolivia in 2008. If we are going to have an international level fronton in Bolivia, the number of players will skyrocket just based on the number of players that we already have in Bolivia. In actuality, 1,400 players are affiliated with the Bolivian Federation.