Pickleball federation adopts Capitol Hill tennis court
Saipan Mayor Ramon Blas “RB” Camacho and the Pickleball Federation of the Northern Mariana Islands held an Adopt-a-Place ceremony last Friday afternoon at Capitol Hill tennis court.
The PFNMTI officially adopted the Capitol Hill tennis courts and can now resurface the old tennis court into four dedicated pickleball courts after Triple J committed money for the resurfacing.
In the speech of the PFTNMI president Nelson Krum, he mentioned that pickleball started on Saipan four years ago.
“In a very short four years, we have grown to have six different groups playing pickleball between Tinian and here (Saipan). There’s one group in Tinian playing on three courts, we have a group in Koblerville, Hopwood Junior High that has three courts, Marianas High School, American Memorial Park, and here on Capitol Hill.
Krum also added that the sport of pickleball is taking off on Saipan not as quickly as it is in America and not as fast as it is in the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, in the speech of Camacho, he mentioned visiting ethnic communities to understand how to help and promote sports tourism.
“This island is a diverse community and is no longer just Chamorro and Carolinian…As a mayor, what I’m doing now is I’m visiting ethnic communities and asking how they can help me help the community… Sports is so important to curb all these juveniles that have nothing to do after school, summer, and this is so important for them,” he said.
He also said sports tourism could be a new driver of the local economy.
“We’re all squabbling about Japanese tourism, Korean tourism, but what about promoting sports tourism? I think this is it (sports tourism) now. We can talk about promoting and driving the economy by putting the CNMI in the spotlight for tourism, [specifically] sports tourism,” he added.
Camacho also mentioned in his speech that pickleball is new to him and he encouraged everyone to help him promote the sports, especially to kids, “to bring them to a better lifestyle.”
The ceremony was concluded with a group picture taken and then some of the guests tried out pickleball at the newly turned over tennis court.
Saipan Mayor Ramon B. “RB” Camacho, 13th from left, presents the Adopt-A-Place certificate to the Pickleball Federation of the NMI led by president Nelson Krum, ninth from right, last Friday at the Capitol Hill tennis court.
-RACQUEL FLOYD
PFNMI president Nelson Krum delivers his speech.
-RACQUEL FLOYD
Saipan Mayor Ramon Blas “RB” Camacho delivers his speech during the Adopt-A-Place ceremony at the Capitol Hill tennis court.
-RACQUEL FLOYD
From left, Triple J Motors general manager Sean Ficke, Saipan Mayor Ramon Blas “RB” Camacho, PFNMI president Nelson Krum, and Bridge Capital LLC vice president Bart Jackson pose for a photo that concluded the Adopt-A-Place ceremony last Friday.
-RACQUEL FLOYD
PFNMI member Ray Austin, left, plays pickleball with Saipan Mayor’s Office operations director Jojo Attao, right.
-RACQUEL FLOYD
