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Volunteers ‘hit’ with Sinclair and company
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Posted on Jun 30 2022
CNMI National Tennis Team members and coach Jeff Race pose with volunteers of the nine-day tennis competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 last Saturday at American Memorial Park tennis courts. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Members of the CNMI National Tennis Team met and rallied with volunteers of the nine-day tennis competition of the Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 last Saturday at American Memorial Park tennis courts.
National player and assistant coach Bobby Cruz said it’s a small gesture to show how Team NMI really appreciated the hard work and sacrifices of the dozens of volunteers that turned out in the Games’ tennis competition.
“Coach Jeff [Race] is always looking for ways to support and inspire the youth, many of whom volunteered as line officials and ball boys and girls. So the national team decided that they wanted to give back to the community by having them hit with us.”
Cruz said almost everyone in the volunteer corps had ear-to-ear smiles after hitting with CNMI national players who they saw first hand battle with the region’s best for Pacific Gamesxe tennis supremacy.
“The special treat was the chance to hit with Colin Sinclair, our world-ranked tennis professional. About 30 kids came out for a hit. It was a fun event, and the best part was seeing how pumped up the kids were to play tennis. Building community and doing things that keep the mind and body well is what it’s all about. We may have inspired the next world class player from the CNMI,” he said.
The CNMI National Tennis Team won a total of three gold medals and one bronze.
Sinclair, Robbie Schorr, Cruz, and Colin Ramsay won the men’s team competition last June 16. Sinclair then added a men’s singles gold, a men’s doubles gold with Schorr, and a mixed doubles bronze with Isabel Herras in the penultimate day of the Games last June 24.
Aside from Herras, the national women’s team is also made up of Asia Raulerson, Hye Jin Elliot, and Serin Chung. The team manager was Karen Ramsay.
In a social media post, Race praised the national team’s perseverance in excelling during the Games.
“Well, we won three golds and a bronze and pulled off probably the best games in Pacific Games history! Not bad for a bunch of rookies!”
