‘We never gave up on our dreams’

CNMI National Swimming Team members Juhn Tenorio, Jinnosuke Suzuki, and Asaka and Shoko Litulumar pose with fellow Micronesian swimmers Jourdyn Adam and Tasi Limitiaco of the Federated States of Micronesia at the closing ceremony of the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The CNMI National Swimming Team that competed in the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships from Dec. 16 to 21 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates performed beyond expectations. Now, imagine Jinnosuke Suzuki, Juhn Tenorio, and sisters Asaka and Shoko Litulumar having actually trained in an official pool.

National coach Hiroyuki Kimura said more than the impressive swim times, the biggest achievement of the Fab Four inside the cavernous Etihad Arena was they were able to achieve the feat training in small home pools and in the open water and during the pandemic.

“Since 2018, the official swimming pool disappeared from this island. Then in addition, we could not do anything since the onset of COVID-19. There was no swim meet, no chance to go to off-island training or any off-island meets. However, we never gave up our dreams,” he said.

The Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center coach said they hunkered down to work and made use of what was available to them and kept their spirits up even during the two nearly two years COVID-19 hindered not only their training but also opportunities to train or compete abroad.

“We just thought how to do our best in the practice environment that we currently had. How can we be stronger in this environment with the wisdom we have? That’s always been the philosophy I’ve had since I started coaching Tsunami Saipan. As a result, we were able to bring up swimmers faster and stronger than the swimmers in the past when there was still a good training environment because of the official pool on Saipan.”

The Kan Pacific Swimming Pool was closed down since 2018 when the Department of Public Lands took over the facility following the expiration of the owner of Mariana Resort & Spa’s lease. Since then, CNMI swimming clubs dispersed to the many residential and scuba diving pools on Saipan as well as the occasional training dips in the Saipan lagoon.

“The most important thing for a coach to make a swimmer stronger and faster is belief and passion. And the most important thing for a swimmer is to believe in their training. ‘This is OK. This way is not wrong.’ When coach and swimmer share this same kind of feeling, we would never swim behind swimmers who are training in a good facility. I think this meet proved that for us,” said Kimura.

Northern Marianas Swimming Federation representative Richard Sikkel, meanwhile, said Suzuki, Tenorio, and the Litulumar sisters really gave a good account of themselves during the swimming championships and he couldn’t be more proud of their performance.

“All four swimmers impressed with the way they handled performing on the biggest swimming stage of the world. They conducted themselves professionally and did what they came to Abu Dhabi to do, which was to swim their best times,” he said.

The Saipan Swim Club coach also said sending them to competitions like the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships should just be the first step for the CNMI’s national swimmers if we hope to tap into their tremendous potential.

“What the CNMI and Micronesia as a region needs to work on is a pathway for improvement beyond what we can offer in training on our respective islands and get some of our star swimmers into scholarship programs that can develop them into true world-class swimmers,” he said.

Aside from Suzuki, Tenorio, the Litulumar sisters, Kimura, and Sikkel also part of the CNMI delegation in Abu Dhabi was NMSF representative Hiroko Tenorio.