Our day started at 2:30 AM when we all met at the airport for our 4:30 AM flight
From Saipan to Guam
Taking our things from the Saipan airplane into the Guam airport.
From Guam to Saipan
From Guam to Saipan
From our airport shuttle in Japan into our hotel.
From our hotel to the field.
To the game with all our supplies!
The CNMI Women's Football Team left Saipan early yesterday morning for the East Asian Football Federation Women's Football Championship 2010 Semifinals Competition in Tainan City, Taiwan.
The team is composed of Natalie Hill, Madison Smith, Carrie Knight, Angela Shyrack, Meaghan Hassel-Shearer, Brenda Schultz, Linday Davis, Melody Matson, Zoe Jewell, Katie Peters, Michiko Tenorio, Patricia Coleman, Brianna Martin, Amber Roberts, Rebecca Newman, Maryana Gramlich, Amanda Allen, Emily Gries, Elisa Fejeran, and Felicia McFarland. Northern Mariana Islands Football Association technical director Sugao Kambe is the team's coach.
Kambe and his female strikers boarded a 4am flight that would take them first to Chiba, Japan before they go to Taiwan. Joining them are NMIFA officials Ken Imaya and Elna Curate and staff Sarah Brostom.
In Japan, the CNMI bets were scheduled to duel the JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies U-18 yesterday afternoon for an exhibition game. Today, the CNMI Women's Football Team will collide against the JEF United's Ichihara Chiba Ladies.
The Commonwealth's female strikers will leave Japan tomorrow in time for the EAFF tournament, which will run from Aug. 22 to 30.
The CNMI Women's Football Team will play against South Korea, Guam, Hong Kong, and host Chinese-Taipei. All of CNMI's foes are world-ranked teams, so the Commonwealth will be the underdog in the field.
However, despite the least favorite tag in the tournament, the CNMI female strikers vowed to put on a good show in Taiwan.
“We are a very young FA so expectations from us are not high, but we want to make our coach, the NMIFA, our fans and our island proud. Coach Kambe has put so much time and effort into helping us to prepare. I think I speak for the team when I say that we plan to show our appreciation to him by playing hard every minute of every game. We will play to the best of our abilities,” said Davis, who is the team's captain.
This will be Davis and company's first international tournament and they need to stick together to hurdle the big task ahead.
“We haven't even played enough international games to earn a ranking. It would be unrealistic to think that we can beat them, but we can play hard, never give up and do our best to contain them. We have to play smart defense and that means staying organized as a team and playing aggressively in one-on-one situations. We need to make sure we don't let up for 90 minutes. Soccer is a physically demanding sport, but we also have to be mentally prepared to push ourselves beyond what we think is possible,” the team captain added.
On a personal note, Davis said she is excited to play against some of the world-ranked teams in the region.
“I am honored to represent the CNMI at this level. This is an opportunity of a lifetime and we plan to give it everything we've got,” she said.
The CNMI will play its first game in the EAFF tournament against Guam on Aug. 22 and then challenge Hong Kong on Aug. 24. On Aug. 26, the Commonwealth will take on South Korea, while the CNMI's last game will be against host Chinese-Taipei on Aug. 28.
The winner of the nine-day tournament will advance to the championship round to be played in Tokyo, Japan next year. China, Japan, and North Korea have already reserved slots to the championship round.
The next batches of CNMI athletes who are scheduled to compete in off-island tournaments left Saipan last week, promising more achievements for the Commonwealth.
First to leave were sprinters' Yvonne Bennett and Clayton Kenty, who are in Berlin, Germany for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
Actually, Bennett and Kenty have been off-island since Aug. 3, as they first participated in the Oceania Regional Championships/Micronesian Athletics Championships in Queensland, Australia from Aug. 4 to 8. They left the Land Down Under on Aug. 9, but while their 10 other teammates returned to Saipan last Monday, Bennett and Kenty just had a stopover in Guam for a connecting flight to Germany.
Kenty and Bennett, who helped the Commonwealth ruled the MAC, ousting erstwhile champion Guam, were set to compete in the 100m qualifying races last Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Several thousands away from the Bennett and Kenty were eight CNMI junior tennis players, who are now in Lautoka, Fiji for the 2009 Pacific Oceania Junior Championships.
Thea and Theecel Minor, Christian Miller, Rafael Jones, Benjie Decena, Melody Johnson, and Jodel Fernandez left Saipan last Wednesday with coach Jeff Race. The seven CNMI netters will join teammate Ji Hoon Heo in anchoring the North Pacific Team against the East and West squads for the POJC overall title. Heo planed in to Fiji from New Caledonia.
The POJC will start today and will run until Aug. 22. The CNMI netters will stay in Fiji for a few more days after the POJC to compete in another tournament.
The last batch of Commonwealth athletes to leave Saipan for an off-island competition was the CNMI Junior All-Star Team.
The squad is composed of Christian Mizer, Jeremy and Henry Rabauliman, Lamarc Iguel, Frankie Camacho, Ricardo Dela Cruz, Aldelbert Lizama, Brian Camacho, Alan Aguon, Jared Sablan, Patrick Tenorio, Arthur Jebehn, and Poland Masaharu. The 13 CNMI youth sluggers will be competing in the World Series in Taylor Michigan. Joining the CNMI Junior All-Stars in the World Series are coaches Oliver Secharmidal and Bernard Cabrera and team manager Thelma Mizer.
The CNMI Junior All-Stars were scheduled to debut in this year's World Series against Friuli Venezia Giulia LL of Italy yesterday.
Also headed for an off-island tournament was the CNMI Women's Football Team, which will be leaving Saipan tomorrow.
The CNMI Women's Football Team were named last week and making it on the list were Natalie Hill, Madison Smith, Carrie Knight, Angela Shyrack, Meaghan Hassel-Shearer, Brenda Schultz, Linday Davis, Melody Matson, Zoe Jewell, Katie Peters, Michiko Tenorio, Patricia Coleman, Brianna Martin, Amber Roberts, Rebecca Newman, Maryana Gramlich, Amanda Allen, Emily Gries, Elisa Fejeran, and Felicia McFarland.
They will first go to Japan tomorrow for two exhibition games before going to Tainan City, Taiwan, for the Championship 2010 Semifinals Competition.
With several CNMI athletes off-island, basketball leagues were able to dominate the local sports last week.
The 2009 IT&E Inter-Government/Business Basketball League kicked off at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium with host and defending champion IT&E winning over Public School System in the season-opener, 75-57.
IT&E won its second game against Bank of Guam, 104-70, to take the temporary lead in the 12-team league. Other winners in the first week of the government-business caging were Docomo, PSS, Micronesian Brokers, Inc., and Commonwealth Health Center.
Still in basketball, the 7th United Filipino Organization Inter-Organizational Basketball League started its playoff games last week with defending champion Samahang Ilokano at Pangasinense earning a return trip to the finals in the open division.
In the masters division, Cabalen and NMBA advanced to the semifinals, joining Bayani and Boholanos. Cabalen and Bayani’s semis duel last Saturday was rained-out and will be scheduled this week. The University of Loyola and Raffy's Diner-supported Boholanos were to collide against NMBA-Ebisuya last night for the first finals berth in the masters division.
Natibu was assured of a slot in the Saipan leg of the 2009 Budweiser King and Queen of the Diamonds Softball Tournament after advancing to the finals of the second KOD qualifier.
Natibu bowed to Advance X-Terminators in the finals, 3-18, but since the latter topped the first qualifier and had gained the first KOD ticket, the former was given the second seat.
Twenty female strikers were named to the CNMI Football Team that will compete in the East Asian Football Federation Women's Football Championship 2010 Semifinals Competition in Tainan City, Taiwan, later this month.
Northern Marianas Islands Football Association technical director and CNMI coach Sugao Kambe, in an e-mail to Saipan Tribune, said members of the Commonwealth's team were selected after more than three months of rigorous training.
Making it to the CNMI Women's National Team are Natalie Hill, Madison Smith, Carrie Knight, Angela Shyrack, Meaghan Hassel-Shearer, Brenda Schultz, Linday Davis, Melody Matson, Zoe Jewell, Katie Peters, Michiko Tenorio, Patricia Coleman, Brianna Martin, Amber Roberts, Rebecca Newman, Maryana Gramlich, Amanda Allen, Emily Gries, Elisa Fejeran, and Felicia McFarland.
Several members of the team, like Schultz, Davis, Newman, Coleman, Fejeran, and Gries, had been selected to play for the CNMI against Guam in the past years. The team also had a few mixed of high school players in Jewell, Roberts, Gramlich, Tenorio, and Smith, and the rest of its members are regulars in the NMIFA's leagues.
Kambe devised a three-stage training regimen for the team to prepare them for the EAFF event, which will run from Aug. 22 to 30 and will also feature teams from Guam, Hong Kong, South Korea, and host Chinese-Taipei.
The first stage, according to the CNMI Coach, focused on individually skills for technical and tactical aspects of the game. The second part was about functional (positional) training and basic endurance training, while the last leg was putting into practice what they have learned and final conditioning.
Kambe said that by the time the three stages are completed at the end of this week, he believes his wards are all set for their first international tournament.
“Their conditioning [physically and mentally] is getting better every practice session and I believe they are ready to play,” Kambe said.
The CNMI Women's National Team will leave Saipan four days before the EAFF tournament, as they will play two exhibition matches in Chiba, Japan before going to Taiwan. The team will leave for Japan on Aug. 18. and on the same day in the afternoon the CNMI's female strikers will challenge the JEF United Ichihara Chiba Ladies U-18. On Aug. 19, the CNMI bets will take on JEF United's Ichihara Chiba Ladies.
In the EAFF tournament in Taiwan, the CNMI's female strikers will debut against Guam on Aug. 22 and will duel Hong Kong in their second game on Aug. 24. South Korea will be the CNMI's third assignment on Aug. 26 and the Commonwealth bets will close out the round-robin tournament with a meeting against host Chinese-Taipei on Aug. 28.
The winner of the nine-day tournament will join China, Japan, and North Korea in the championship round to be played in Tokyo, Japan next year.
Running outside the field so we don't damage it.
Carrie, Nikki, Katie, and Natalie demonstrate the power of Pilates!
Working on our core strength.
