Schultz wild about women’s soccer

With Week 1 in the books, the recently created Women’s Soccer League is off and running, and organizers are thrilled with the way that the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association has provided an outlet for the athletic women in the CNMI.

Brenda Schultz is one of the players who donned the shin guards and spikes for the league’s opening day over the weekend, but aside from showing he stuff on the field, she has been running around to organize the league as NMIFA’s Women’s League Chairperson.

Now that she is seeing the fruits of her planning come to light, Schultz turned her attention toward her hard working counterparts that spent countless hours turning the concept of the league into a reality.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of each person who is helping run this league. It is all volunteer work. (NMIFA board members) Sue Knecht and Vikki Izuka spend endless hours just helping us and they aren’t even playing. They take care of the fields, the insurance, ordering balls, pumps, needles, securing water for game days, writing checks, asking for solicitations, collect registration, planning for the future of soccer on Saipan, and they even brought oranges to our last game! They are incredible,” she said.

In addition to Knecht and Izuka, Schultz gave thanks for all of the assistance from NMIFA president Jerry Tan in promoting the sport.

“He is the driving force behind this new soccer momentum. I wrote a proposal for the women’s season and he got right behind it. Women’s soccer is very popular in the U.S. and also on Guam. It has been really underrepresented on Saipan so, we are all working together to try and change that,” she said.

Schultz also praised the efforts of Marcos Alonso for giving the largely rookie field the tool of the trade that allowed them to kick off the season in style.

“I believe 100 percent that Marcos Alonso is the reason for the women’s successful year! Sue and Marcos planned a Saturday training session in the beginning to teach women how to play soccer and give them fundamental skills. Sue distributed flyers out at the youth tournaments and around town. We started getting excited when we saw the women coming. Marcos is an excellent coach and with his rare ability to balance patience and firmness the women blossomed into soccer players. The women were so encouraged by Marcos’ coaching ability that they not only came back but brought friends! It was great,” she said.

With 38 players and five dedicated coaches, the women’s league is running full steam ahead, and this weekend was just the start of things to come as a full slate of games awaits the ladies this weekend as each of the teams will play two games on Saturday, April 29, to set the stage for the playoffs and subsequent championship round on May 6.

Every game counts as the teams earn two points for a win, one point for a tie, and gain nothing with a loss. The first tie breaker will be goals scored, followed by the ever popular coin flip to determine seed ranking.