SBA, NMIFA opens new office

The Saipan Bowling Association and the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association officially opened the doors to their new office located at the MVA Building in Oleai Wednesday night.

Jerry Tan, president of both SBA and NMIFA, joined officials of both sports associations in welcoming friends and guests to the 400-square meter room adjacent to the Marianas Visitors Authority.

Aside from finally having an office for national bowling coach Sarah Yap and a future coach for soccer, the room will also allow SBA and NMIFA to hold small meetings, store paperwork, and generally give members a place to stay to discuss and conduct bowling and soccer related matters.

“NMIFA is just a new organization, while SBA has been around for quite sometime. I’m just glad that finally we have a home. Most of you are very active with your respective associations and it’s nice we finally have an office,” said Tan.

The Tan Holdings Corp. president and MVA chairman also thanked the building’s landlord, Ty Izuka, for making the space available for SBA and NMIFA.

SBA treasurer Ross Zapanta echoed Tan’s remarks when he said, “I’ve been associated with bowling for a long time but this is the first time we will have an office. I just want to thank Ty for donating the office and also to our president Jerry who’s been instrumental in arranging everything here together with Puy [Macario, general manager of Realty Management Services].”

For her part, NMIFA director Sue Knecht also extended her appreciation to Tan and Ty, but she also gave props to Saipan Swim Club founder and longtime CNMI resident Bill Sakovich.

“First of all, I want to say ‘thank you’ to Jerry for all of his generous contributions for both associations. My thanks also go to Ty for the new office. I also would like to thank Bill because without him, there wouldn’t be much going on in the sports community in this island. As far as soccer is concerned, we’re all really excited about the progress we made and are looking forward to the years ahead,” she said.

Sakovich, meanwhile, said SBA and NMIFA having their own office will only help both sports in the long run.

“I think it’s great and it’s very important to have your own facility. Internationally, you got to have something where you don’t have to change addresses and phone numbers every year. You need something that’s going to be here permanently. With your own P.O. box, fax machine, all the numbers are the same and you don’t have to change them regularly. So, I want to congratulate everybody and if you ever need any help for anything I’m over there [Hawaii] but I still have a few contacts so I’m happy to help out. Good luck to all of you and thanks for inviting me,” he said.

With youth and veteran bowlers improving, Yap being hired as full-time coach, and the opening of the new office, which is just next door to the Saipan Bowling Center, Tan said the sky’s seems to be the limit for the sport of bowling in the CNMI.

“Our youth are doing good, doing well. We are attracting new bowlers. SBA is doing a lot of good progress and at the same time, Sarah has allowed us to further improve and also attract new players,” he said. “I feel that with the setup of this new office it would further help us because we will have a place for Sarah and the rest of you, like Ross and Gigi [Zapanta]. This is a place we can call home and run our association,” he said.

Soccer may not be as big in the CNMI as bowling is currently, but Tan said people should expect big things from the sport in the very near future.

“With NMIFA, we’re just brand new but I tell you there are a lot of things we are trying to achieve and accomplish. We just completed our women’s season and a couple of months ago our youth soccer program attracted over 300 kids,” he said.

“So, let’s put this office to good use and let’s continue to develop sports for our youth, veteran players,” said Tan.