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National teams’ training camps in full swing
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Posted on Jun 28 2019
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- Members of the CNMI women’s U19 and U15 national teams enjoy doing aquaponics during a community service at Tuloy Foundation in the Philippines where they are having a training camp in preparation for the 2019 Marianas Cup. (Contributed Photo)
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- The CNMI Men’s U19 National Team players and officials pose for a photo at the departure area of the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport last Tuesday before they head to Japan for a training camp. (Contributed Photo)
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- Members and officials of the CNMI U19 and U15 national teams gather for a photo at the departure area of the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport last Saturday before they head to the Philippines for a training camp. (Contributed Photo)
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- Players of the CNMI U19 and U15 national teams walk past the Tuloy XO Field carrying bags of soil and water bottles as they head to a greenhouse. (Contributed Photo)
The CNMI’s national football team players are putting the work at their respective off-island training camps.
In the Philippines, members of the U15 and U19 national squads have been doing drills in the morning and evening since they arrived at the Tuloy Foundation XO Field last Saturday. They also played a couple of training matches and did a community service at their host’s turf.
“We played three sets of matches with the Tuloy’s U17 girls team. It was a good training session experience for the new players on the team, and for the first-timers in Tuloy. Everyone had their time on the field. Coaches had the U19 play first set then a mixed team in the second. The third set, we started with the U15 girls then adding a few senior players,” team manager and assistant coach Angie Ito said.
The visiting players then did aquaponics as part of the community outreach activities.
“They planted arugula, fed the fish and carried and put soil in pots. They really enjoyed the activity and they were amazed at how nothing was wasted in aquaponics,” Ito added.
Meanwhile, members of the CNMI Men’s U19 National Team and some U23 players arrived in Japan last Tuesday and completed their own set of training matches in the first two days of the camp.
The group kicked off its activities with a morning training at the Hokuiyo Sports Center last Tuesday. Then in the afternoon, the Commonwealth players dueled St. Catherine University. Yesterday, coach Michiteru Mita’s players followed the same training schedule before battling Matsuyama Technical High School.
The CNMI crew will have three more training games—versus Ehime University, FC Imabari Youth, and St. Catherine University again—before heading back to Saipan on Tuesday.
The visiting team is in Japan to get ready for the 2019 Marianas Cup and the AFC U19 Championship 2020 Qualifiers. Guam will host the Marianas Cup on July 20, while the Asian Football Confederation-sanctioned event is set for Nov. 2 to 10 in Cambodia, with the CNMI facing the host country, Brunei, Thailand, and Malaysia in the Group G matches. The Commonwealth’s female players will also see action in the Marianas Cup next month.
