Inauguration fever

The inauguration of Ben&Tim spurred a slew of events in the local sports scene last week.

On Jan. 8, Joe “Kamikaze” Camacho kicked off the oath-taking festivities by bagging the Inauguration Golf Tournament at the Laolao Bay Golf Resort. Camacho bested a field of 118 duffers after his miniscule 69.4 net score reigned supreme in the invitation-only event.

Earlier in the morning, more than 40 exuberant kids participated in the latest Kids Triathlon Series of the Northern Mariana Island Triathlon Federation at Marpi with Kenyon Schultz, Andrew Johnson, Clay McCullough-Stearns, and vacationing Tyler Sinclair ruling the roost.

Sunday morning then saw the VIPs of regional soccer associations assemble for a luncheon meeting sponsored by the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association at the Fiesta Resort & Spa.

East Asia Football Association general secretary Takeo Okada later said in a separate interview that he is hopeful that NMIFA’s application to become a member of Fédération Internationale de Football Association would be discussed in June during the FIFA Congress in Germany.

The weekend also witnessed the return of the 6th Annual Budweiser-Coca Cola UFO Inter-Organizational Basketball League at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. Winning in their playoff debuts were Cabalen-RP Construction/Transamerica, Visminda-Tambayan/Nel Atalig, SIP-Flor A Miranda, and LIPS-Mobil.

Tuesday, meanwhile, had the islands’ basketball program jumpstart its men’s and women’s national teams with both programs holding tryouts at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium.

The next day, the Commonwealth’s best and brightest civil servants kicked off the Inter-Government Basketball League at the Ada Gym with Department of Labor and Public School System debuting strong with wins over defending champion DPS No Zone and NMC Proa, respectively.

The Men’s Island-Wide Fast-Pitch Softball League also returned to the cozy confines of Tan Ge Field Wednesday evening with Seabees ‘4’ holding back D9ers and Islanders outlasting Proa.

The first World Organized Rocball High School League game of the new year had Lagooners getting the better of Just For Fun, 58-36, Thursday at the Marianas High School Gymnasium.

The CNMI’s aspirations to become a training ground for athletes also got a big boost when SK Wyverns of the Korean Major League used the Oleai Sports Complex for their spring training beginning last week.