Jai-alai season kicks off at the Magic City Casino (includes video story)

Jai-alai was named by a man named Serafin Baroja in Spain in 1875.  

Early in the 20th century, it became popular in the United States. There were 14 professional frontons. Only two are used today, one in Dania and one in Miami. 

Jai alai is a sport that involves bouncing a ball off a walled-in court by throwing it at high speeds with a handheld wicker called a cesta. 

Families and teams gathered on Friday, Sept. 8 for the first night of the season of Jai alai League Battle Court to watch Lifestyle Chargers vs. the Rebote Renegades play at the Magic City Casino in Miami. 

Darryll Roque, a former University of Miami baseball player, competed for the Chargers and has been on the court for the last five years. 

“I started in 2018 and now here we are in 2023 and now I am playing against guys who are top five in the world,” said Roque.

Jai alai will be played at the Magic City Fronton near West Flagler Street until December or you can watch it on ESPN online. 

Corrections: An earlier version of this story misdescribed Serafin Baroja’s role in jai alai.

Daniela Zulueta

Daniela Zulueta is pursuing her master’s degree in global strategic communications and graduated from FIU with a bachelor’s degree in digital broadcasting in 2023. She also holds an associate’s degree in journalism from Miami Dade College. Zulueta loves the city of Miami and aims to share the stories of the citizens who live here and all over the world. Zulueta runs a social media platform called @Lifestyle_Miami where she works with local businesses and does community-based work. She had a paid internship with Televisa Univisión as a Step Producer and worked as a stage manager at NBC6 South Florida & Telemundo51. Now, she is part of cohort 8 and has a fellowship at the FIU Ratcliffe where she can work on branding herself and post-production of a podcast called Tech Conversations.