About 100 join 3rd CNMI Disability Sports Festival

Participants play cornhole during the 2023 CNMI Disability Sports Festival on Saipan, which was held last Friday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

About 100 community members took part in the 2023 CNMI Disability Sports Festival on Saipan, which was held last Friday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

The participants played a variety of physical activities such as cornhole, boccia, washer toss, sitting volleyball, and disc golf from 9am to 11:30pm.

It was led by co-chairs Center for Living Independently executive director Susan Satur and Public School System Athletics Program director Nick Gross.

The sports fest’s purpose was to provide recreational play opportunities and socialization for people with disabilities within the community—from the elementary school students to the elderly. 

Gross, for his part, said after the festivities that “It’s a lot of different people coming together to provide a program that really does give opportunities for all throughout the CNMI—and what we’re doing here is really highlighting inclusive leisure activities that any family, any function, any school can do to ensure that they truly are inclusive activities and that everybody in our community can come together and enjoy sport together.”

He added, “It’s been a long time coming… We’re really happy to have it back up again and have it as an annual event. We want to have this possibly every quarter or twice a year because it’s that important and everybody that participated loves the event.” 

Greg Borja, executive director of Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems, Inc., said on the importance of having the event, “I feel the importance of holding a disabilities sports fest is to provide opportunities for people who don’t get a chance to come out and do any activities. That way, they can celebrate with their peers in terms of playing games, laughing, and just having a good time is what it’s really all about.”

Borja said that participants from the Center for Living Independently shared that they’re thankful that the sports fest came back again and that they were happy because they’ve missed it. “It is an opportunity that they don’t really get throughout the year other than when we try to provide these events for them,” said Borja.

According to Borja, after the 2020 census, there are roughly about 3,500 people on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota with disabilities. 

The Disability Network Partners are the Tan Siu Lin Foundation, CNMI PSS, Northern Marianas Protection & Advocacy System Inc., Division of Youth Services, Northern Marianas College, Commonwealth Transit Authority, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities, Center for Living Independently, and the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.

The sports festival was first held in 2018 and returned for the first time after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 
The sports festival will be held on Tinian this Friday, July 21, while the event on Rota will be held on July 28.