Sports federations encouraged to assist public, private schools

Local sports federations are encouraged to hold outreach programs to various schools in the CNMI to boost the skills of student-athletes and their coaches.

Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association and Basketball Association of Northern Mariana Island’s Gabriel White, during the NMASA meeting last week, brought up the idea, saying that a lot of schools are waiting for assistance from local sports associations.

“These assistance include providing coaching clinic/seminars to teachers/coaches and a separate clinic for students, and helping schools run their competitions,” White said.

NMASA president Michael White and two other NMASA members present at the meeting supported Gabriel White’s suggestion and the former said this matter will be discussed in the association’s meeting next month.

“We want to get our children/students moving and the best way to that is to have them involved in various sports. We will bring up this matter to our various members and the Public School System,” the NMASA head said.

The assistance should be open to both the public and private schools in the Commonwealth, Gabriel White added. He said athletes suiting up for CNMI teams that are competing in off-island tournaments come from schools here, so giving them a strong foundation is very crucial in their success. White added that there are teachers who are willing to give time to coach their students but they must also get proper guidance and pointers from experts, such as the coaches/officials of various CNMI sports groups.

“Right now, MISO is trying its best to work out a program for our high schools students by holding various leagues and coordinating with the different local sports groups,” Gabriel White said.

MISO has its boys and girls soccer, basketball, volleyball, and canoe contests. BANMI and Northern Mariana Islands Football Association are providing assistance in MISO’s soccer and basketball leagues, while NMIVA helped MISO run last season’s boys and girls volleyball. Next month, MISO will have its outrigger canoe racing season.

Asked if funding will be available if national federations reach out to schools, Gabriel White told those present at the meeting that he believed there are grants that could be tapped for this function.

Gabriel White added that it will be great if the leadership of the Coalition of Private Schools Sports Association will work together with MISO to form a unified and strong school system sports competition.

Right now, COPSSA is running its own tournaments and setting its own competition rules, although there are a few schools (Saipan International School and Grace Christian Academy) also joining MISO events.