Sports associations prepare for Palau Games

With the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games just months away, sports associations sending athletes to the quadrennial event have stepped up their training schedule.

Track and field, for instance, has been holding meets every month and is expected to finalize its selection by December.

Coach Elias Rangamar said they currently have four senior athletes training regularly at the brand new track and field facility in Oleai. He also said that instead of the original eight, the Northern Marianas Islands Track and Field Federation has decided to send only two athletes to the Mini Games.

The decision was made because of budget concerns and the desire of NMITFF to send only athletes that will have a chance of qualifying in the finals. Rangamar said money saved from the Palau Games would be used to send athletes to smaller regional track meets.

The Saipan Swim Club, according to new coach Mike Stewart, is instituting a new selection process for next year’s Games. He said the new system is based on the time standards he culled from the last two South Pacific Games.

Stewart said that Dean Palacios, Nina Mosley, Juan Camacho, and Minerva Cabrera have all met the time standard and are looking good for next year’s Mini Games.

Aside from the four, Stewart said other swimmers have also shown promise and are just a few seconds off the time standards. They are Rezne Wong, Michael Camacho, Melissa Coleman, Myana Welch, and Amanda Johnson.

For lawn tennis, Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team captain and Northern Mariana Island Tennis Federation president Jeff Race said his players are doing their training individually.

He said top ladies player Kana Aikawa is training with the University of Hawaii Manoa women’s tennis team, while Jung Mun Chung is refining his skills at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Race also volunteered that he will probably be sending a mix of veteran and junior players to Palau. He said Mini Games experience for the likes of Ralph Buenaventura would certainly give them an edge when they finally compete in the Micronesian Games in 2006 and South Pacific Games in 2007.

Triathlon, for its part, has yet to start team training, according to Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation board member Russ Quinn. He said a majority of their athletes are doing their training on their own but will finally begin serious training when federation president Stephan Samoyloff comes back from off-island.

Some of the players for women’s basketball are currently earning their stripes in the ongoing 2004 Saipan Rotary Club Summer Youth Basketball League. While men’s basketball is leaning towards retaining the same team that placed sixth in the Micronesian Basketball Tournament in Guam a few months ago.

Saipan Major League’s Tony Rogolifoi, meanwhile, said that they already have submitted a tentative lineup of players to NMASA. He, however, said that the list is not set in stone and was submitted mainly for fundraising purposes. Rogolifoi noted that the final roster would depend on the following months of training and the performance of some of the younger players in the upcoming SML Fall League.

Robert Guerrero of the Saipan Softball Association said they would hold a tryout for the women’s team by mid-October. For the men’s team, he said SSA is only waiting for the conclusion of the ongoing 2004 Island Wide Fast Pitch Softball League to pick the players going to Palau.

Table tennis, on the other hand, is also streamlining its selection process, according to Marianas Amateur Table Tennis Association president Stephen Lim. He said a clearer picture on the makeup of the six-man contingent for Palau would be known after the goodwill series between Saipan, Tinian, and Guam next month.

Coach Joe Ocampo of wrestling said his boys have continued their rigorous thrice-a-week regimen at the Mwar Mwar Center warehouse. He said his wresters have been supplementing their training on the mat with cardio work like running and weightlifting.

Nan Intharaluk of beach volleyball said he and his fellow coach Jon Cramer have yet to finalize the men’s and women’s team for Palau. He said a lot would weigh on the showing of players in beach volleyball tournaments slated for the coming months.