Molding youth through sports

For about 13 years now, Ed Temengil has had the “honor” of working with the youth of the Commonwealth, trying to prepare individuals for the challenges that lay ahead of them.

Currently a Physical Education and Language Arts teacher at Tinian High School, where he has been teaching for the past eight years, the 40-year-old also spends much of his time attending to the development of Tinian’s young athletes as a coach.

“I enjoy being around kids and I think I can make a difference in their lives, and being a teacher, I think that’s the profession where we can make change,” he said during an interview yesterday.

Temingil admitted that the both professions, like many others, are not easy; however, he stressed that all the time, effort, and work in shaping his students pay off in a way that’s indescribable, especially whenever someone succeeds in accomplishing a goal.

“It never gets easy because you’re dealing with young minds that are developing, and people always have problems. Parents have problems and that can’t help but affect the kids and sometimes they’re in school and they’re thinking of other stuff and you’ve got to get them focused on what they need to do in school.

“I feel gratified and thankful that they are doing well,” he said. “I believe sports and school go together. It will make the students budget his or her time. It will definitely prepare them for life. This world is very challenging and sometimes when you’re in high school, you’re not really aware of how tough it really is after you get out of high school, so I think it will definitely prepare them for life after high school.”

Temengil, who was born on Palau but has lived in the CNMI since he was four years old, said that what counts for him is the work put into accomplishing a goal.

“I’m very satisfied when they win something, but for me, it’s not necessarily coming in first place that I want to teach; it’s working hard, working toward a goal and overcoming obstacles and challenges that come your way. If you can learn to do that, then I think you’ll be alright.”

Temengil said he hopes more adults will take the initiative and find ways to play positive parts in the lives of the youth.

“There’s got to be a little help for students to deal with stress in overcoming challenges and adversity,” he said. “[And] that’s part of the problem now. Not too many adults want to spend their time with the young athletes. We do need more volunteers.”

Temengil also taught at Hopwood Junior High School and on Rota before moving to Tinian.

“Tinian reminds me of Saipan in the ’70s…everyone knows each other, everyone is friendly, and there’s no traffic and it’s slow paced,” he said.

Throughout his life, he has been involved in sports, beginning as a swimmer with the Saipan Swim Club, where he met his first coach and mentor, Bill Sakovich.

“That’s where I learned about coaching, and it built to my coaching philosophy. You need to catch the kids early and get them into a sport to do something positive before they get into other things. The younger they are, the easier it is to make changes that will affect them in a positive way.

“When I deal with kids outside [the classroom] and through coaching, the kids sort of see me in another light. I take mentoring very seriously and I just hope to show them what Bill [Sakovich] and Kurt Barnes showed me by just spending time with them.”

Temengil also coordinates activities with Saipan coach Elias Rangamar in hopes of providing outside competition for his Tinian athletes.

“You always try and find the best competition for your athletes,” he said. “I try to do that for Tinian. That’s why whenever I can, I try to bring athletes here and work with Elias because he always has good athletes and if I can get my athletes to play here, even though we lose most of the time, we learn.”

Temengil also expressed appreciation to Tinian Mayor Francisco Borja, the Tinian community and parents for their support.