Sports makes way for a better cause

It will take a while before the local sports scene at the Oleai Sports Complex returns to normal as the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium now serves as shelter for those who were forced by Typhoon Nabi’s winds and heavy rain showers to leave their homes.

Division of Sports and Recreation staff Elias Rangamar, who also serves as an official for the Saipan Rotary Summer Youth Basketball League, and the 2005 Budweiser Cup BANMI Men’s Island-wide Basketball League said he is still unsure of when action in both leagues will resume.

“There’ll be no indoor games, I would guess for about two weeks, and before games resume, we’re going to have to revise the regular season schedules for both leagues, but we can’t do anything until after the assessment,” he said.

The facilities at the complex did not sustain any major damage, however, leaks on the ceiling of the Ada Gym continue to serve as a problem as puddles of water continue to build on the basketball court and on the sidelines.

“The damage on the ceiling are from [Supertyphoon] Chaba last year,” said DSR staff Mario Sablan, who also added that unlike Chaba, none of the lights high above the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field fell to the ground.

Sablan, however, said an assessment will be conducted to determine other damages at the complex.

Meanwhile, EMO staff Juan T. Camacho, who was tasked along with three others with assisting DSR staff prep the gym to house individuals transferred from school shelters.

“As of right now [yesterday morning], we don’t know how long it would take because all that depends on the severity of damages of the homes of those who are in the shelters,” he said.

Camacho said an assessment team will visit homes of families in the shelter to determine whether stay at the gym will be long term or short term.

“If the house is totally destroyed, then that will mean a long term stay, but if its flooding, that will be short term and we will give them time to clean up their homes,” he said.

Being that the Ada Gym is used daily for various activities, Camacho said the facility was sanitized before it was used as a shelter, and will be sanitized again before activities resume.

Camacho added that cooking will not be allowed in the gym and tents and tables will be provided outside the venue to serve as cooking shelters.

Typhoon Nabi brought winds of up to 105 miles per hour Wednesday and heavy rain that resulted in floods around the island.