Barcinas named U12 commissioner

After the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association took the lead in forming the U12 Interscholastic Football League, someone from the Public School System has stepped in to work hand in hand with NMIFA officials to ensure the success of the inaugural league.

Dandan Elementary School principal Jonas Barcinas was nominated to be the commissioner of the league and gladly accepted the position expressing his passion to helping students get involved in sports rather that wander in the streets after school hours.

“I am very ecstatic, ready, and willing to jump in for our CNMI youths and most importantly in working closely with all the dynamic volunteers or leadership team of this excellent organization (NMIFA) in making this year’s league a success,” Barcinas said.

“I am very honored to be the first commissioner. I will go all out with my leaders and members in organizing events for our children so they can stay busy instead of doing bad things like drugs, burglary, vandalism, or simply getting bored not doing anything at all,” said Barcinas, whose team the Dandan Tottots have drawn around 60 students during their tryouts early this month.

“For the record, the past years that I have had my DES students participate in this great sport, I have seen motivation and enthusiasm from the students who participated in the tournament. I truly enjoyed and appreciated the way the leagues or tournaments were conducted. The kids are happy and excited to participate this year,” he said.

The Dandan principal is counting on his fellow teachers/coaches to ensure the success of the league.

“We all know that one person can’t do the job especially in running a huge league but I believe that having individuals who are passionate and enthusiastic about promoting, perpetuating, and strengthening the sport, together we can overcome the challenges and we will successfully accomplish our goals,” he said.

“It will be an easy job especially if you work closely with your leadership team or members. I know the planning will not be left for me to do everything. It’s a team effort and I will empower my experienced members to plan the event with me so we can successfully accomplish our mission as an organization,” Barcinas added.

Barcinas is no stranger to working with various individuals in organizing tournament and leagues, as he had been part of volleyball and other sporting events.

“I’ve been exposed with various sports and organizing events. I have organized many community events like the NMI Beauty Pageant, DARE Jamboree, Red Cross Walkathon, DYS For the Children fun activities, many school programs, softball tournaments, many cultural dance programs, educational trainings, and many volleyball leagues and tournaments,” he said.

Switching from soccer, he said, will not be difficulty, as he loves the challenges presented by every sport he joins.

“I have no problem adjusting from volleyball to soccer because I’ve played all kinds of sports like basketball for the Marianas Invitational Tournament and leagues, baseball, softball, tennis, and table tennis but volleyball suits me more. I enjoyed flying in the air to spike the ball and also jump serve. I enjoyed defending hard spikes from my opponents as well. Volleyball is speed and finesses. Soccer is endurance and speed as well. All sports have their own advantages and disadvantages which attracts me the most. I am just an all-around athlete and coach,” Barcinas said.

He added that coaches/teachers who are working with NMIFA now for the U12 league will be a big help to ensure the success of the league, as they are also have been involved with PSS soccer tournaments in the past five years.

Barcinas said the biggest challenge now is to have encourages more local coaches to help the various schools and have referees for the league, which will kick of later this month.

“I’ll be working with the members from the federation to provide more coaches and referees trainings for our coaches and any interested individuals to prevent any problem in the near future, especially during the games. We are also trying to build capacity amongst our local members so they can assist us in referring the games properly,” Barcinas said.