NMI football featured in EAFF website

CNMI youth players listen to the speech of NMIFA president Jerry Tan during a football event at the Oleai Sports Complex last month. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Northern Marianas Islands Football Association president Jerry Tan’s interview with the East Asian Football Federation is now online and highlighted both the Commonwealth football’s birth pains and gains.

Tan disclosed how he asked a group of athletic girls who is into basketball to try futsal and eventually play football. These young girls were approached to replace the aging CNMI women’s national pool and just less than a year into the program, the newcomers donned the colors of the Commonwealth in an EAFF tournament. Today, the women’s program maintains a stable of young bloods and local talents.

“Our early national teams were mostly American teachers in their 30. They were the backbone of our teams because they’ve made Saipan their home or worked there for a number of years. But since around four years ago, we’ve finally started to see younger faces. Today, if you look at our women’s team, they are all very young , 15, 16, 17. More girls are playing now; this is part of the growth. We have become the biggest women’s team sport on the island by far,” Tan was quoted as saying in the interview posted at the EAFF website.

Another challenge to the youngest member of EAFF was enticing to footbal the island that is hooked on American football, baseball, and basketball.

“They’re so in love with baseball and American football and basketball. It’s hard to have a conversation with the kids and say, ‘try this sport’ when they don’t see it on TV. We still don’t have a lot of football on TV, but what we have is the internet. Kids who are interested can watch online, and once they learn about the sport and try it, I know they will be interested in playing,” the NMIFA president said.

To address this concern, NMIFA invested on its grassroots program and worked with both the public and private schools to generate interest in the sport.

Today, more than 2,000 players in the youth, interscholastic, and adult leagues are competing. Players from this pool are also selected to represent the CNMI in off-island events and the availability of talents allowed the Commonwealth to send the most number of teams (6) in regional competitions last year.

“In 2015, we sent out six national teams, which no other Northern Mariana sport can claim. For kids living on a small island, a chance to travel to Beijing, Thailand, Laos… that’s great exposure for the kids. For some it’s their first time riding an airplane,” Tan added in the interview.

The NMIFA head also made special mention of the CNMI Men’s National Team’s historic 2-1 win against Macau in 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup Preliminary Round 1 in 2014 in Guam.

All these accomplishments in 10 challenging years were made possible through the help of EAFF, its member countries, AFC, and all its local partners, including the parents, coaches, and volunteers.

“We can’t achieve these without getting help from a lot of people and organizations,” said Tan, whose next big plan for CNMI football is to build an artificial pitch that would help popularize the sport more in the Commonwealth.

He added that sharing the development of the sport on the island and the steps they are taking to accomplish their goals will generate awareness on CNMI football from their counterparts in the region.

“We are proud of what we have accomplished so far and it’s nice to know that people outside the island know who we are and what we are capable of doing. We will continue this journey in growing the sport in the CNMI,” Tan said.