Soccer pitch to rise in Koblerville

From left, NMIFA general secretary Ross Zapanta, NMIFA vice president Vickie Izuka, NMSA president Michael White, Soccer.com president Nobuyuki Yamagata, NMIFA president Jerry Tan, Pacific Games Council president Vidhya Lakhan, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, first lady Diann Torres. Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan, and Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Robert Hunter participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the NMI Soccer Training Center held yesterday in Koblerville. (Jon Perez)

By next summer, the CNMI may finally have its own soccer pitch.

To be named the NMI Soccer Training Center, the groundbreaking ceremony for the facility located in Koblerville was held yesterday morning with no less than Gov. Ralph DLG Torres leading the event. Jerry Tan, president of Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, which will construct the facility, joined Torres, other NMIFA officers, government officials, sports leaders, and soccer players in the historic ceremony hosted by L.J. Castro.

“We would like to provide our youth and other members of the community the opportunities to play here and outside our islands and we can only do that if we will have a nice facility that we can utilize yearlong, day and night,” Torres said.

For more than a decade, NMIFA has been using the Oleai Sports Complex for its games and sharing the facility with other sports and even community events. The association also holds matches in schools, turning the grounds into pitches. Majority of the games are played in the morning and matches have to be planned and be limited to avoid conflict in schedule with other events. Grasses have to be cut regularly to make the pitches safe for use, while on rainy days, teams still play in soggy and muddy fields.

With the soon-to-be-built NMI Soccer Training Center, the CNMI is assured of a first-ever artificial turf on the island. Soccer.com, which has worked on over 40 fields in Japan, will install the surface made up of synthetic fibers that look like natural grass, can stand all weather conditions, and will provide a better and safer playing field to the Commonwealth’s athletes. The 48,000 square meter facility will also house the NMIFA office, covered bleachers, locker rooms, rest rooms, a conference room, and ample parking space.

Tan said they estimated the cost to build the facility is between $1.5 million and $2 million. No government funds will be used to construct the facility as NMIFA will work on its on-island and off-island donors to complete the project, which may be done by July next year.

“We will make it sure we will get it done for you—for all the members of the CNMI community,” Tan said.

The NMIFA head first envisioned the project several years ago as the CNMI soccer program keeps on growing each year. From a little over 100 players in 2005, NMIFA now has over 1,300 with 70 percent made up of youth athletes. From these players, the CNMI has formed 42 national teams (youth and adults) and has sent them to international competitions sanctioned by Asian Football Confederation and the East Asian Football Federation.

“We need a bigger and a field dedicated only to soccer to meet the growing needs of our players, to help them develop as we prepare them to represent the CNMI in international tournaments or play in the collegiate level,” the NMIFA head said.

After the groundbreaking ceremony, NMIFA will work on the necessary permits to start construction of the facility, which the association will also use to host international competitions and bring additional visitors to the CNMI.