CNMI Weightlifting wants own training facility

Angel San Nicolas lets out a roar after a succesful lift during the weightlifting competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 last month at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (NMPMG2022/DCCA OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY)

Fresh from winning the lion’s share of the medals in the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022, CNMI Weightlifting now wants a facility of its own to build on that success.

CNMI Weightlifting president John Davis said the sport has not only shown its mettle in the just concluded Mini Games, but also gave the Commonwealth medals in the 2018 Micronesian Games in Yap, the Federated States of Micronesia and the 2017 Pacific Mini Games in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

“We don’t have a space to train. We have equipment now. We have everything we need to do to compete at a high-level international competition… We have it right here on the island right now, but we don’t have a facility to put all that equipment in and to train the number of athletes that we might need to actually compete at a regular international level,” he said in an interview with Saipan Tribune. 

Davis said CNMI Weightlifting isn’t asking for the moon when it comes to a weightlifting training facility and is even willing to compromise with what the government and the Northern Marianas Sports Association can accommodate.

“Ideally, we would like to have a 2,500-square foot facility, but we will take what they’d give us. In fact, we’ll settle for 1,500 square feet. But it’ll be very, very, very, very tight. But we’ll take what we can get,” he said.

During the Team NMI Celebration Dinner at Kensington Resort earlier this month, NMSA president Jerry Tan said weightlifting deserves a facility of its own after leading Team NMI in medals won during the Mini Games.

“With their result, they have every right to talk to NMSA. Yeah, they already gave me a little bit of requirements or requests for what they want…with those results coming from weightlifting they deserve it,” said Tan.

Davis said with the sport having a facility of its own, CNMI Weightlifting can set its sights not only on the Micronesian Games, Mini Games, and Pacific Games, but tournaments as big as the Asian Games.

“You know what I mean is [we can compete in] the Asian championships, so on and so forth, on a regular basis. So you have a program… You’re supposed to have a program…Well, we got programs, but that’s not going to do us any good if we don’t have a facility,” he said.

Davis hopes the government and NMSA will not only accommodate CNMI Weightlifting’s request for a training facility, but also all sports federations for that matter that also need a facility they can call their own.

“If they’re serious about supporting sports. They would be trying to get a place not just for weightlifting, but to build facilities even if it’s two or three years down the road… We’re not talking about recreational facilities…We’d be talking about where our athletes can train at a world championship level.”

Davis also thanked the Mini Games Organizing Committee for helping CNMI Weightlifting host not only the Mini Games competition but also the Oceania Weightlifting Championships at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. He also thanked the rest of the officers of CNMI Weightlifting, Oceania Weightlifting Federation, technical delegate Paul Coffa, and last but not the least the volunteers that helped the weightlifting competition run smoothly.

Of the 16 gold medals won by the CNMI during the 11th staging of  the Mini Games, weightlifting contributed 11 of them. Of the 38 medals won overall by the CNMI, the sport bagged 23 that also included 10 silver and two bronze medals.