Men’s team looking forward to playing at home

Aside from the obvious—not needing to fundraise as much—members of the CNMI National Men’s and Women’s Basketball Team are also looking forward to take advantage of the home court advantage provided by Saipan’s hosting of the 6th Micronesian Games from June 22 to July 2.

CNMI men’s coach Rufino Aguon is thrilled with the opportunity of playing in front of the home crowd and said having games on Saipan would give his team a valuable sixth man on the floor.

“Our hosting of the games will surely help us in terms of having the home court advantage. We also do not need to really fund raise so we can spend all our time training. I do not really see any disadvantage of playing here,” he said.

As far as the ongoing tryouts are concerned, the former official of Continental Micronesia admitted that it could be better, but said he’s not at all worried because the players who really want to be part of the national team are showing up and giving their 100 percent.

“The tryouts have been going on okay. The participation has not been as expected but I have a bunch of guys that have been coming,” said Aguon.

He named Mel Manibusan, Dan Barcinas, Gus Palacios, Aleric Aguon, James Lee, Kelvin Fitial, Jeremy Sablan, Mark Wallace, Steve Rasa, Ed Diaz, Dexter Mendiola, and Justin Fejeran as the players who have consistently attended the training sessions.

“We are on Week 5 of the training phase, which consists of 30 minutes of strength, 30 minutes of anaerobic, and 40 minutes of aerobic running (68 laps around the basketball court),” he added.

Aguon said if he would rate on a scale of 1-10 the state of the team right now, he would say it is a 3, but quickly said, “guys are getting stronger though and are meeting the times.”

He said members of the men’s national team should be in excellent physical shape because he wants the team to be a run-and-gun squad and always pressing on defense.

“We are a small team so we need to be fast, quick, and able to sustain that energy during the entire game. Defense will be the key to our offense, so we need to be in the best shape of our lives for us to have a chance in medaling,” he said.

With regard to the three players he allowed to work out independently—Oscar Ada, J.C. Kim, and Richard “Doc” Brostrom—because they are either off-island (Ada and Kim) or have a busy schedule (Brostrom), Aguon said they would be evaluated in the coming months.

“Oscar and J.C. were given the same training program to follow, so if they do it then they have a chance in joining the team. Once they arrive in early May, they will be tested and if they pass, then they will be given the green light. As for Brostrom, I heard he broke his thumb during one of their Inter-Government Basketball League games, so I have not seen him,” he said.