Sister state hosts CNMI in farewell party

KOROR, Palau—After two weeks, the CNMI delegation returns to home soil with their heads high after putting up an impressive performance in the 2005 Palau South Pacific Mini Games, but before beginning their journey back, the team was hosted to dinner by sister state Ngaremlengui last night.

State Gov. John Skebong was at the forefront of the hosting, providing the CNMI’s athletes and officials with their final meal in Palau.

Before heading to the farewell dinner, various members of the delegation spent their final day shopping, touring the island, and packing clothes, as well as a bounty of seafood, among others.

Transportation provided by the Mini Games organizers picked up the members at around 6pm, transporting them to Ngaremlengui for the dinner, which was scheduled from 6pm to 9pm, after which the members were to be taken to the airport.

“The accommodations and transportation was great while we were here,” said softball player Rose Taman. “I’ll give them an A-plus on that. They rushed to our needs and even though there were places we needed to stop at that wasn’t along the route to our game, they would find a way to help.”

Also sharing similar thoughts of satisfaction about the Games was triathlete Ketson “Jack” Kabiriel, who cited that meeting athletes and officials from other Pacific countries, as well as touring the various sites made it a memorable stay.

“I liked it,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. I met different people and got to tour the island, but the best part was going home with a gold medal.”

Kabiriel, Stephan Samoy-loff, Anneka Sakovich, Dirk Sharer, Natasha Good, and Melissa Coleman were presented gold medals for placing first in the aquathon Thursday.

Good added that changing the format of the event—from trialthon to aquathon—bettered the team’s chances for medalling, but still she felt a little disappointed because of all the hard work and effort put into preparing for the bike portion.

The race featured a run, swim, and another run instead of the swim, bike, and run format.

Meanwhile, silver medallist Joe Ocampo of wrestling said he enjoyed the hospitality of the host country the most.

“Other than the rain, I think we enjoyed the people and the hospitality, especially the great accommodations,” he said.

Netter Kana Aikawa, who will return to Hawaii to continue her studies at University of Hawaii in Manoa, also commented on her stay, adding that the wet weather required more of a mental focus due to the many delays.

“It was a miracle that we got to finished, and it made us mentally tough because we had to wait for the rain delays, and playing at different venues, sometimes away from your teammates made it hard. [But] the best part was seeing people from the last SPG and meeting new ones, and also having people from other sports from the CNMI coming to cheer for us.”

For her part, beach volleyball player Milli Saiki said the experience at the Games will greatly benefit the Commonwealth in preparation for future regional and international competitions.

“I love the opportunity to meet athletes from all these countries. We all have the same goal, and I’m happy to see beach volleyball at a higher level. We can bring the new knowledge we’ve learned and share it with players on Saipan to better prepare for the Micronesian Games and the Pacific Games in Samoa.”