OAA happy with MAC hosting

The Oceania Athletics Association was pleased with the hosting of the 2nd Micronesia Athletics Championships on Saipan and lauded Northern Marianas Athletics and volunteers for their hard work.

OAA executive director Yvonne Mullins, who was on Saipan for the MAC two weeks ago, stressed that the OAA saw the event as a success and is confident of the sport’s future in the CNMI.

“You’ve got a great facility here in Saipan and it needs to be used for as much as it possibly can for any events that we have,” she said. “The event was an absolute delight to be a part of. We had some great performances and the event itself was run professionally and it was an event that Saipan can certainly be proud off.”

Mullins reiterated Oceania’s role in taking part in events such as MAC, citing that their intention is merely to assist local officials in running a smooth event.

“[OAA] doesn’t ever want to come and step in and take over,” she said. “We believe that we have so much talent in our island federations that we need to encourage it, so it was pleasing to see that there was as much talent as there was that we could just assist.”

“There was no necessity for the Oceania people to come and step in because you’ve got all the people here, its just a matter now of giving them more experience by letting them run regional events,” she added.

As in all aspects of life and sports, there always room for improvement and Mullins confirmed that the OAA will continue with its role in education officials in the region.

“We still need to do some more education for your officials and there’s no doubt about that…just to give them some more experience at that level,” she said. “I think it was a good stepping stone and certainly a great rehearsal for the Micronesian Games, and once we get that right, I believe that Saipan is in a very good position to get the sport up and running and to be the number one individual sport in Saipan.”

Upon returning to Australia last Monday, Mullins forwarded results of all events in the MAC to all federations in Oceania, and recognized NMA and its volunteers in a brief message.

“Congratulations to Northern Mariana Athletics Association who did a sensational job in organizing a first-class, professional championships,” she said. “The event was a credit to the local organizing committee.”

The MAC was held on Dec. 14 and 15 with over 100 athletes and officials from Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, CNMI, Guam, and Palau taking part.