104 join Coconut Classic tennis tourney

The American Memorial Park tennis courts had a full house Saturday, as the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association kicked off the 2009 Coconut Classic Tennis tournament and attracted 104 participants.

The Coconut Classic is NMITA’ first tournament in 2009 and CNMI coach and tournament director Jeff Race was ecstatic with the turnout.

“What a great way to start the year by having a huge number of youth participants and adult players,” Race said.

More than 60 players are competing in the youth division [boys and girls 10-and-under, 13-and-under, and 18-and-under age groups], while the rest are entered in the men’s and women’s open singles, men’s 40-and-above, and the unique mixed-up doubles, which had young players teaming up with older ones.

The Wise Women Village Project of the Department of Public Health is this year’s major supporter of the Coconut Classic.

“It’s great to see these kids play against older players, especially when kids make better shots against their much older foes. Playing with and against adult players encouraged kids to elevate their level of play,” Race said.

“When they are hitting good shots against adults, kids surprised not only their parents watching the game, but also themselves. They [youth players] realized what they are capable of when challenged,” Race added.

The mixed-up doubles drew 50 pairs and after Saturday’s matches, 27 duos had already advanced to the next round. Games continued yesterday and will resume next Monday.

The girls’ 10-and-under division has 11 players with Tammy Ackerman, Julia Ishikawa, Sakura Imaya, Carol Lee, Liza Atalig, Gabrielle Race, Maliko Miyawaki, and Emily Jones making it to the next round.

The boys’ 10-and-under and 13-and-under age groups have 17 players apiece.

In the girls’ 13-and-under, four of the seven players vying for the title advanced to the next round. They were Ilia Corella, Alina Ishikawa, Amy Arenovski, and Neghar Rastguiy.

Eight players are entered in the boys’ 18-and-under division with three moving into the next round, namely Woo Suk Chang, Nathan Nutting, and Sung Hoon Ham.

Only four are competing in the girls’ 18-and-under with top seeds Thea Minor and Lila Mailman winning their first matches, beating Theecel Minor and Jodel Fernandez, respectively.

The women’s singles will also be a battle among four players, namely Lydia Tan, Sakiko Eda, Kinumi Tanaguchi, and Flor Jones.

The men’s singles has Jeff Race, Kirk Schuler, Father Ryan Jimenez, Nicolas Son, Boyet Minor, JR Ngeskebei, Keisuke Takagi, Tomo, So Suk Chang, Chris Nelson, and Peter Loyola, while 12 will be fighting for the men’s 40-and-above singles title.