Winkfield wants team to enjoy moment

Northern Mariana Islands head coach Bobby Winkfield is pleased with the medal haul by the CNMI delegation on opening night, however, he expressed that his main concern is for the team to savor the experience.

“We’re looking for the team to have a good time and that they continue to enjoy themselves and stay relaxed,” he said while looking forward to yesterday’s competition. “That’s the key too. If you’re too tensed up, then you don’t perform as well. If you’re relaxed, then the performance comes a lot easier.”

Winkfield explained that with a young team, the Micronesia Athletics Championships serves as a venue to develop the youth and expose them to international competition in hopes of improvement in the future.

“We were just thinking that we have a lot of young athletes and [need] to get them some experience,” he said. “One of our sprinters, whose not as young and is 18, but he hasn’t had any international competition. This was very good to get them use to international competition because in June, we’re going to have another big meet, so this is very good.”

Nonetheless, Winkfield said he is happy with the 12 medals.

“I thought it was awesome,” he said. “We had a little rain, a little this and a little of that, but overall it was great. Twelve medals…we didn’t expect that much. We have very young team, and it seems like they’re pretty focused. They’re doing a great job and I guess it shows that practice pays off.”

Winkfield also recognized assistant coach Robin Eugenio and Northern Marianas Athletics coaches’ director Elias Rangamar, who played key roles in the training prior to the MAC.

“Elias and Robin had practice everyday. They were here everyday, plus Saturdays and sometimes Sundays. I was here twice a week with the throwers. We did a lot of run stuff to build endurance, and they did a lot of throwing in the end, but not much in the beginning…it was all conditioning.”

Before kicking off their MAC campaign, the coaching staff gave their athletes some words of encouragement.

“We just told them that we’ve been working hard so now is the time. We’re on our home turf and now is the time to go out and not worry about little small things. Just enjoy and have a good performance,” Winkfield said.

The NMI bagged a total of 12 medals on opening night—two gold, three silver, and seven bronze.