Efforts on and off the pitch recognized

Moments after the Fiesta Resort and Spa Femme Fatales defeated the Marianas Eye Institute Eyeballers in the women’s league championship game, 4-2, Northern Mariana Islands Football Association president Jerry Tan shared his thoughts with the players and organizers at the Oleai Sports Complex.

Growing up playing the world’s most popular sport on the Guam pitches, Tan appreciates the efforts put forth by the players throughout the season but NMIFA’s commander in chief also knows the obstacles that face the organizers who volunteered their time to make the league possible.

Women’s league coordinator Brenda Schultz spent countless hours behind the scenes recruiting players, coaches, and officials with the help of a number of passionate individuals and she ran the field with her teammates on game day.

“It’s a very, very exciting game and the first person I must thank is Brenda. I must say without Brenda I don’t think that we’d be where we are today. She didn’t only start women’s soccer on Saipan but she actually continued to [develop] the sport to where we are,” said Tan.

Every player he spoke with told him how much fun they had throughout the season and Tan said that had a lot to do with the way the league was being officiated. NMIFA utilized its resources to develop a solid core of coaches and referees and Tan thanked the man who organized the clinics without any fanfare.

“I’m just pleased to update you that one of the things that NMIFA wants to continue putting resources toward the clinics for the coaching and officiating. I’d like to recognize Dean Tenorio because based on what I saw during the youth and women’s league the officiating quality and standard has gone up so much thanks to his hard work putting together the back-to-back clinics with the support of the (Guan Football Association),” he said.

While NMIFA closed the latest chapter with successful youth and women’s programs in 2006, Tan said that soccer in the Marianas will continue to thrive by maintaining its momentum at the organizational level.

“We just completed a coaching clinic…and we wanted to let you know that we’ll continue to bring the coach back to generate a bigger pool and also upgrade the licenses. We believe that having a good foundation of coaches and officials is the right way to [improve] our sport. So you can be assured of us continuing the deployment of resources in those two areas,” he said.

Tan said that NMIFA is looking forward to the next season of women’s soccer on Saipan and that Schultz will be proposing the dates and times for the next round of action as well as working with the GFA for further the local program.

“We want to really keep the women’s soccer growing. You know Guam’s soccer has come a long way. They’re doing very well, they’re competing internationally, and Brenda is actually working closely with them. We want to continue coordinating closely with them, be able to be more and more competitive, and start to join some tournaments,” he said.

With the youth and women’s season complete, NMIFA is now focusing on the start of its first Men’s Open League, and Tan thanked coordinator Vince Stravino for his efforts as well.

“Vince put together seven teams. We would have been happy with four teams but he told me that we ended up with seven teams so one team will have a bye every week. Thank you for leading the effort to put together the men’s league because that is a totally brand new thing for us,” he said.