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There is only one sport that can truly call South Florida home. Tonight, Jackie's Living It Up at Miami Jai Alai. She's getting a taste of just how hard this sport really is.
(WSVN) -- We are Living It Up bringing Miami back to its roots, one of the first true sports here in South Florida, Jai Alai, and these guys are true athletes, let's find out why.
Jackie: "And the sport of Jai Alai has been around for a long time about 400 years, just go ahead and tell me about the history."
Mark: "It started about 400 years ago, in the Northern Spain, Southern France. In about 1926 it made it's way over here to Miami and after a couple years people started to bet on it,
we still get 2...3,000 people here a day."Jackie: "And you said the fastest this has gone is 188 mph, don't you get scared?"
Mark: "Yeah a lot of times."
Jackie: "Then what is this called?"
Mark: "This is a cesta, each of these are hand made from Spain, each player uses his own specific model, they range from $200 to $350."
Jackie: "This is like putting a fruit basket on your arm."
Mark: "Arm straight, wrist loose."
Mark: "Now what you are going to do is 1, 2, and 3, let it all the way through like that."
Jackie: "I've got it this time."
Mark: "The ball's a little bit smaller than a baseball but it's harder than a golfball,
they're about $150 each, they take a long time to make."Jackie: "This is hard, this is brutal."
Jackie: "Yea!!"
Jackie: "Captain Hook, that's what I feel like."
Jackie: "Alright, let's try a point."
Player: "It's like an egg in a basket, if you do that you break the egg, you can't break the egg, you just got to cushion it."
Jackie: "Yes!"
Jackie: "Well thanks for teaching me how to play, but I know this ball can go a lot faster than that, so let's see how you do it."
Jackie: "And that's what it's like playing the thrilling sport of Jai Alai, a big thanks to all the players at Miami Jai Alai, I'm Jackie Johnson, 7 News."
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: jjohnson@wsvn.com
Miami Jai Alai
3500 NW 37th Ave.
Miami Fl 33142
305-633-6400