SIS vets to go separate ways in college

From left, Andrew Johnson, Chris Cepeda, Yuta Kitami, Chris Park, and William Fong are the five graduating senior members of the Saipan International School Geckos, who ruled last month’s MISO volleyball league. (Jon Perez)

Johnson along with longtime teammate Chris Cepeda, Chris Park, Yuta Kitami, and William Fong will be attending separate colleges when they graduate at the end of the 2014-2015 school year.

“I’m choosing at mostly California colleges since it is the same weather like Saipan. I’m also looking at going to [California Polytechnic State University] in San Luis Obispo and hopefully play volleyball,” said Johnson.

Johnson actually is a multisport athlete as he is also a member of SIS’ basketball, soccer, and swimming teams. But it is in volleyball that he plans to spend most of his college athletic career.

Cal Poly is an NCAA Division I school and the Mustangs play in the Big West Conference. Sadly, the school doesn’t have a men’s volleyball team and the sport is not part of Big West’s calendar.

Johnson said he plans to also tryout for the men’s volleyball squad once he is in college, but would like to start playing for a club team first.

“There are some colleges that have volleyball clubs and they have leagues. So if you join the club and then play there some people will scout you,” added Johnson, who has been playing volleyball since middle school.

Cepeda, meanwhile, wants to concentrate more in basketball after playing alongside Quincy Johnson in a Micronesian Basketball Tournament, while Park could not decide yet if he would choose volleyball or soccer.

“I plan to go to Pennsylvania in College but I want to play more basketball than volleyball,” said Cepeda, who was also part of the Ed Manalili-coached U15 squad in the 2011 MBT in Palau.

Cepeda added he’s been playing with Andrew Johnson for six years now as they started competing in the 7th grade.

Park, on the other hand, said that University of Washington would be his destination in college and he plans to major in business management. He said he is torn between continuing to play either soccer or volleyball.

“I really prefer soccer, but I kind of want to do both. I’m hoping to join a regular club team first and see where I can go from there. I’m not in the kind of NCAA level, even in Division II. That’s a different league,” said Park.

Kitami said he would concentrate with his studies, while Fong wants to play volleyball only for recreation when he goes to California.

“I would probably go to University of Hawaii at Manoa. I have no plans of playing since I want to concentrate more in finishing my degree in travel industry management,” said Kitami, who only played volleyball this year. “I’m glad to become part of a champion team.”

Meanwhile, Johnson, who was the Geckos’ team captain, and Cepeda want the remaining members of the squad to continue SIS’ winning tradition.

“Basically, everyone is even in our team. But as a captain I have to take responsibility. I am confident that the remaining team members will get even better as the years go on. All they have to do is have fun playing,” said Johnson.

“We’ve been helping some of the younger guys in their practice and training. We’re giving them tips. They just need to have fun and keep on winning championships,” added Cepeda.(Jon Perez)