Mesa aiming high for CNMI

For many years, Arnold Mesa has devoted his time and effort toward developing the skills of basketball players.

Now, the well-known referee, who recently competed as part of the Guam Masters Basketball Team in the 2006 Pan Pacific Masters Games, is looking to form a delegation from the CNMI for the upcoming World Masters Championships to be held in Sydney, Australia in 2009.

“I’m motivated now to bring the CNMI team, and only the CNMI team, to the Masters level and compete in this in baseball, basketball, badminton, and beach volleyball,” he said. “I would work with all the key athletes on their respective sports to bring them out because I have a goal to match up with the Guam level of sports.

Mesa explained that the experience masters athletes from the CNMI will get in the competition will only serve as a positive boost for the development of the youth.

“If we do this in this level in the Masters, we can come back and teach our youth the values of that level,” he said. “I know the CNMI athletes have great programs, and I’m very proud to be part of it, but my main goal is to give the CNMI its first medal in the Pacific Games in basketball. We have the skill and will to match any team in the Pacific, so that’s my main goal.”

Mesa explained that many people get the wrong impression that the Masters competition is not at a high level because of the age of players.

He stressed that the competition, however, features ex-NBA players and players that represented their countries in the Olympics, and having a team from the CNMI compete will better the understanding of the importance of fundamentals of the game.

Mesa played in the 40-and-over and 45-and-over teams, as well as coached the 65-and-over team to a silver medal finish. His schedule featured playing four games a day, while also officiating another three games per day.

“It was a difficult trip for me because I was kind a late by two days. I’m representing the age group for 50-and-over, but Guam didn’t have one, so I had to go down to the 40 and 45 age group. So it was a very difficult task, but being in shape…a lot of the athletes prepared me for it…it paid off on that tournament so I’m very thankful for it,” he said.

The competition also served as preparation for the 2009 World Masters Championships.

“This tournament was very big for a lot of the athletes because it’s kind a like a preparation for the 2009 World Masters in Sydney, so every year an athlete must have that consciousness or [willingness to train harder], and that’s the only way for you to compete in this level. A lot of us compete in our inter-island level, which does not really test the will and skill. So you have to go into this IOC where all your hard work on the practice will pay off at this level.”

Mesa has been taking part in international Masters competition for over a decade. He founded the Guam Masters Basketball Association in 1990, and was a player-coach in 1994 at Brisbane. He then served as head coach in 1998 in Portland, Oregon. He has also participated in 2002 in Melbourne, Australia, and in 2005 in Edmonton, Canada.

Mesa also coached the Guam National Basketball Team to a silver medal in the 1991 South Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea.