Young Belizean Athlete to Represent the Jewel at Baseball’s Power Showcase

A seventeen-year-old slugger is getting ready to represent Belize for the first time at a baseball event in the United States.  It’s a dream come true for George Perteau who is a young sports enthusiast with great potential.  Several years of intense training at Rogers Stadium, here in Belize City, have culminated in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Perteau.  Today, we caught up with him and his coach and together they shared the story of their road to Power Showcase.  Here’s News Five’s Isani Cayetano.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

A young Belizean athlete is making history as the first to represent the country in an upcoming international sporting event.  Power Showcase is an All World/All American Baseball Classic that seeks to celebrate one of the finest moments in sports, the home run, while providing a platform for the amateur power hitting prospects from twenty-even countries around the world.  Seventeen-year-old George Perteau will take the field in front of baseball’s top evaluators.

George Perteau

George Perteau, Belizean Athlete

“My intention fi go da di Power Showcase da fi show off weh I got, all di talents ah have.  Show weh a could do and try up deh as well too.  Ah believe ih wahn open wahn big door fi Belizeans, a lot, a lot.  Ih wahn open wahn lotta doors fi we.  Da wahn good choice fi I goh and ih wahn open wahn big door fi wahn lotta ah wih.”

Perteau’s journey to Miami in November is through his involvement with the Belize Visionary Foundation of Baseball and Softball, a non-profit organization founded in 2017.  The foundation seeks to establish a viable and generational system that will propel Belize to the forefront of baseball in the region.

Carlyon Flores

Carlyon Flores, President, BVFBS

“The prospect here is George Edmund [Perteau] Jr.  Junior and I had fostered a professional and respectful relationship, I believe he attended one of the Belize Visionary Foundation of Baseball and Softball summer camp that we had about two years ago, and since then I have noticed that Junior possesses the potential to become a very great baseball player.  I did not foresee that in such a short time that this opportunity would have come whereby he would have been invited to participate in such a very world-renown baseball event which is known as the Power Showcase.  So what are doing right now, we have been in preparation, trying to prepare Junior for this event.”

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic which include very limited access to Rogers Stadium, Coach Rene Habit has been instrumental in getting Perteau game ready.

Rene Habet

Rene Habet, Baseball Coach

“As I had mentioned, Junior is a very, very talented young man.  He is very professional when it comes to this sport and very disciplined in this sport.  I know there are a lot of ways that he can improve, but for right now this young man is the best potential, the best prospect right now in Belize.  This young man has dedicated himself, comes out day and day out and does his practice.  So I know that he will do excellent over there.”

Power Showcase will be held in Miami, Florida from November twentieth through to the twenty-fourth.  While they have received some funding for Perteau’s trip, the organization is still seeking assistance from the business community, as well as the public, in covering his expenses.

Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.