NMIFA holds send-off ceremony for U17 women’s team

The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association held a send-off ceremony for the 20 members of the NMI U17 Women’s National Team, pictured with their officials, last Friday at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville. (LEIGH GASES)

The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association held a send-off ceremony for the NMI U17 Women’s National Team last Friday at the jam-packed NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville.

The 20-member team is competing in the AFC U20 Asian Women’s Cup 2024 Qualifiers in Thailand. 

They are playing in Group A of the qualifiers and will be battling Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia in the Asian Football Confederation-sanctioned tournament that will run from April 26 to 30 at the Buriram City Stadium.

The team includes Mia Ysabela Abuan, Mariana Katherine Angeles, Stacy Lucille Arriola, Joselynn Larissa Atalig, Hailey Shae Benavente, Andrei Kaithlyn and Julie Anne Chavez, Anna Julia Dalusung, Megan Mae Elayda, Valerie Anne Estela, Azriel Fatialofa, Ella Ninjin Hall, Alana Hayes, Tamia Kileleman Hix, Vianca Mangulabnan, Cassie and Fiona Regan, and Jacqlene and Vaniqa Torres. 

The officials following them on the trip are Luam Khen Koo as head coach, Jershwin Angeles and Lalaine Pagarao as assistant coaches, Jireh Yobech as the technical analyst, Mita Michiteru as the head of delegation, Hazel Mabasa as the team doctor, Catherine Attao as the team manager, and Yu Hung Lee as the assistant team manager.

Jerry Tan, president of the NMIFA gave his remarks and said, “It’s a lot of hard work. I come here all the time, especially [in the] evening, I witness the training our boys and girls actually go through on a year round basis… you might get tired of me thanking the parents… But this could not be possible without really the year round support, the weekly support, coming from the parents—to allow them to play, to train, and allow them to actually really sacrifice a lot, because some of them at their age, they need discipline. So, this is why parents really have a very key role to play in our youth development.”

Tan acknowledged how young some of the players are, saying there are 12- to 13-year-old players. “What does that tell me? That tells me that we have a small pool of players. This is why we actually have to include the younger girls. They really do not belong to this age group, but we include them. We groom them, we give them the opportunity to train with the older girls. So, this is something we all have to work very hard on continuing to commit to our grass roots.”

Mita was not present but his remarks were read by Attao, NMIFA executive committee member and chairwoman of the women’s committee. A part of his remarks said “Our players are all homegrown players. They come from our club’s grassroots program. This is [a] great achievement by an entire soccer family and I’m very proud to be part of the program. I thank again all your hard work and contributions for NMI soccer development.”

For Attao’s remarks, she said “on behalf of the women’s committee, we’re just really excited and grateful for the overall growth of the women’s and girls program. And I say that because you guys are definitely the future of soccer…” 

“We are so excited because we hope that with your experience that you have an AFC, you’re going to bring it back and share it with your clubs, with your teammates and motivate them to continue to grow. You have all the support from our amazing president Jerry and then also all the ex co and our FA family. And so with that, I’m grateful to be able to also be a part of your team, your delegation, and let’s go get ‘em, go NMI.”