Sport in Aruba
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Aruba. Aruba is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, together with the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten.
Between 1952 until 1984, Aruban athletes competed as part of the Netherlands Antilles.
Aruba is located in the Caribbean. With that in mind, it is not unusual to think that it is conducive to a lot of water sports and outdoor activities. It is very popular for water sports like windsurfing and kitesurfing. The presence of constant 15 to 20 knot trade winds is great for such activities. As a matter of fact, every June, It hosts the Hi-Winds Amateur World Challenge, a ten-day amateur windsurfing tournament that attracts from novice to relatively professional level windsurfers to the beautiful island of Aruba.
But water sports are not the only sports where Aruba is known for. It has also produced some of the best athletes in the world stage and some actually made a good living in professional sports like baseball. There are a number of Major League Baseball players who are from Aruba like Xander Yan Bogaerts who plays third base for the Boston Red Sox, Calvin Gregory Maduro who played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1996 to 1997 and Baltimore Orioles from 2000 to 2002. Maduro also played for the Netherlands in the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens.
Eugene Humphrey "Gene" Kingsale is another notable athlete from Aruba. He played for a number of teams like Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, and Detroit Tigers in a 7 year span (1996 – 2003) and also played in the Netherlands national baseball team (World Cup of Baseball, the 2004 Olympics and World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009). Lastly Sidney Alton Ponson, who played for the Baltimore Orioles (1998 – 2003), had one of the fastest fastballs topping at 95 mph.
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Popular sports of Aruba
- Football (Soccer)
- Sailing
- Windsurfing
- Kitesurfing
- Baseball
Aruba Sporting Success
Great athletes from Aruba
- Bito Maduro - Judo
- Lucien Dirksz - Cycling
- Junior Faro - Weightlifting
- Richard Rodriguez - Athletics
- Roshendra Vrolijk - Swimming
- Fiderd Vis - Judo
- Eugene Humphrey "Gene" Kingsale - baseball
- Jemal Le Grand - Swimming
Aruba Sports trivia
- Aruba first competed under their own title at the Olympic Summer Games in 1988 and all Games since then, and has yet to win any Olympic medals.
- Aruba had not competed in any Winter Olympic Games.
Aruba at major events
Past sporting events hosted in Aruba
- 2012 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships was held at Centro Deportivo Betico Croes in Santa Cruz, Aruba from November 23 to November 25, 2012
Upcoming sporting events in Aruba
Annual sporting events held in Aruba
- Hi-Winds Amateur World Challenge, a ten-day amateur windsurfing tournament
Sporting Facilities in Aruba
- Don Elias Mansur Ballpark is a multi-use stadium in Oranjestad, Aruba. It is currently used mostly for baseball games. The stadium has a capacity of 12,000 people.
- Guillermo Prospero Trinidad Stadium - a multi-purpose stadium in Oranjestad, Aruba. It is Aruba's National Stadium. The stadium hosts soccer matches and also track and field competitions.
- Tierra del Sol Resort, Spa & Country Club - the only 18 hole golf course on Aruba
Other
- Kingdom Games — a multi-sport event held every two years between the youth of the countries that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Aruban Division di Honor or Campeonato AVB Aruba Bank is the top level association football league in Aruba.
- The Torneo Copa Betico Croes is the top knockout tournament of Aruban football.
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