A great time for practice

The holiday season is a wonderful time for athletes to take a break from the spirited competition of the regular season and the adrenaline-pounding rush of the playoffs to spend some quality time at home or on vacation with their families.

While several local sporting associations have put their schedules on hold until next year, the venues that usually host their nightly efforts have fallen quiet. This leaves open the door for improvement through practice.

Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field has been closed to the public for weeks to allow the budding grass to grow into one of the lushest infield leas in the Marianas, and the Capitol Hill baseball field has yet to welcome the future stars while construction remains ongoing.

Despite being unable to utilize the two diamonds, local hardballers still have the option of the Kan Pacific Baseball Field in Marpi to hone their skills during the break. Little leaguers can also make the most of a number of smaller confines such as Tan Ge field at the Oleai Sports Complex, or the fields in Dan Dan and San Vicente.

The youngsters aren’t the only athletes who can make the most of those facilities as the CNMI’s top softballers can create some chemistry before the upcoming Micronesian Games next summer.

Some of the Saipan Softball Association’s players made the most of the nightlife by practicing under the lights in Oleai as Mel Sakisat coached and mentored the Sai-Steve Rookies in a scrimmage game against some of the Mix-A-Lot squad.

Soccer players are perhaps the youngest and least experienced of all of the Commonwealth’s athletes, as the Northern Marianas Islands Football (Soccer) Association has only gotten up and running this year, but children running around has become a common sight at the American Memorial Park during both team and unorganized practices.

While they don’t have an organized practice schedule or a dedicated workout facility, the multisport enthusiasts of the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation routinely meet at lunchtime to swim around the World War II era tanks left stranded in the Saipan Lagoon, and go for runs that take them through almost every village in Saipan.

The Saipan Swim Club is one association of athletes that never seems to take a break from the action, as their coach has taken advantage of the school holidays to hold more practices.

They will be competing in Guam over the course of the next two days in international competition, and they are sure to hit the pool for laps upon their return as well. Their dedication to fitness and to their sport is one of the reasons why they put on the strongest showing in Palau during the South Pacific Mini Games last July.