High praises for historic run for Team NMI

As the curtain closed on the final day of the 10th Micronesian Games that brought Micronesia together for sport and camaraderie last Sunday, the NMI delegation capped off their historic run with the most gold medals ever at 70, garnering high praises from its chef de mission, Valerie Hofschneider.

The wrestling team wrapped up NMI’s stint with the team’s final two gold medals to stay atop the gold medal standings at 70. The gold rush far surpassed the old 30-year record held by Guam of 56 when they hosted the Games in 1994.

Also, the 122 total medals broke the 92 medals (44-23-25) Team NMI previously recorded in the 2010 Micronesian Games held in Palau. This was also the first time since 2002 that Team NMI ranked No.1 in the final medal standings.

Hofschneider made her way back home before the Games closing ceremony with the athletics team, tennis team, and some members of the softball team Sunday morning.

Other members of the NMI delegation will fly out over the course of this week, with multi-awarded and two-sport athlete (basketball/athletics) Lia Rangamar, and wrestler and gold medalist Ryan Babauta, nominated as the flag bearers for the Games closing ceremony last Sunday night.

Hofschneider, who is also the Northern Marianas Sports Association’s secretary general, said of the team’s performance, “Considering the heat—it’s so much hotter than back home, we did really well. I couldn’t ask for more from anybody else.”

As for the team’s medal haul, she said, “Wow! That’s all I can say, ‘wow!’ The number is fantastic overall. It makes me super happy. I’m really, really proud of what our team is able to accomplish… It really does exceed our expectations because we never really know how well we can perform. We can say things about our team, like how good they are, but we never really know until our athletes actually perform and do the work. They’ve been training for how many months and that’s just an understatement.”

With the historic gold medal rush and setting a new record at 70, along with all the other records set, she said, “All I can say is a bigger wow than I just said earlier. Words can’t express how proud I am about our team on how well they performed. We’re lucky that they were able to excel during these games.”

For the eight national federations that came out to not only compete but excel and come out on top—National Fast-Pitch Softball Team, National Men’s/Women’s Basketball Team, National Tennis Team, National Tennis Team, National Beach Volleyball Team, National Swimming Team, National Athletics Team, and the National Weightlifting Team— Hofschneider said, “it shows that they put in all the hard work. I’ve seen the work that basketball put in with their program, in building up their team—this goes for every other federation—it shows the hard work, planning, thinking thoughtfully about how they’re going to train the athletes they may want to bring to the Marshalls—over the past months or even the past couple of years.”

She quoted cross-fitter Matt Fisher, “Hard work does pay off. That’s the case for all our federations. It showed how much input and effort they put into their athletes.”

The 110-strong NMI delegation from the eight different federations also train and operate on limited resources. The swim team doesn’t have a full-sized pool to train in yet they swept almost all the competitions in the Games—pool and open water swims—with 49 golds, 15 silvers, and 14 bronzes. She said of their dominating performance sans a pool, “It’s amazing. When you really think about it, it’s amazing what we can do.”

With the limitations of training facilities and venues for certain sports on the island, she said, “The limitations that we have, that’s just the island life. Where we’re located, we’re limited in resources—in life. But that just shows that as islanders, we think, ‘what can we do with what I already have?’ and, ‘if there’s something that I don’t have, how can I get it down the line?’I think that just shows more thoughtfulness in how to go about getting to our end goal.”

As for the highlight of her stint as CDM, she said, “Seeing my people, my kids—anyone that’s younger than me, I say they’re my kids—just seeing them excel and actually getting the gold. Everybody wants to get a gold or just a medal, but hearing or watching them actually get it—I don’t know how to put it into words—it’s just fantastic.”

Lastly, she said about all the NMI athletes that competed, “Just because you grow up on a small island doesn’t mean nothing is impossible.” As for those athletes that flew in from other places just to represent the NMI, “I think it’s really good that they even put this into consideration. Anybody that wants to come back and compete, that’s great. That makes our option for our player pool even bigger and more opportunities for our people as well.”