GCA players off to FISU Forum

Grace Christian Academy’s Angelo Salas and Aira Batallones will be leaving Saipan later this month to represent the CNMI in the 11th FISU Forum in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei.

Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Michael White announced the selection of the two GCA students during the monthly NMASA meeting at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium last week.

“We would like to congratulate Angelo Salas and Aira Batallones for being named CNMI representatives to the FISU Forum in Taipei. I wish them good luck and may they represent the CNMI well and share what they will learn from the Forum to their fellow student-athletes,” White said.

Salas and Batallones both play for GCA’s varsity volleyball teams that compete in the Coalition of Private School Sports Association and Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization. The 18-year-old Salas also suits up for the Eagles’ varsity basketball team.

“I am very thankful to NMASA and FISU for this rare opportunity. I am looking forward to meeting fellow student-athletes in Taipei and learning more about school sports,” Salas said in a phone interview with Saipan Tribune yesterday.

“I am excited to represent the CNMI and I am sure we will gain a lot of knowledge from the Forum. Whatever things we learn from this experience, we would be willing to share them to our fellow student-athletes,” Batallones said in a separate phone interview with Saipan Tribune last night.

The FISU Forum will run from March 26 to 31 at the Taipei Physical Education College with “University Sport a Platform for Sustainable Development” as its theme this year. The forum is held every two-years and gathers representatives from over 100 members of FISU (Federation Internationale du Sport Universitaire), the world governing body of national university sports federations and organizes the Winter and Summer Universiades in uneven years and the World University Championships in even years.

Salas and Batallones are the second and third representatives of the CNMI to the biennial event. Runner and triathlete Matthew Mancao was the Commonwealth’s first delegate to the Forum, having attended the seminar in Vigo, Spain in June 2010.

Besides its main theme, this year’s FISU Forum also listed four sub-topics: University sport as fertile ground for leadership development; University Sport, a platform for change and for women’s engagement; sportsmanship as a platform for lifelong development; and strategic planning for “eco-friendly” university sport.

Salas and Batallones will leave Saipan for Taipei on March 25 and will return on April 1.