IT&E praised for commitment to interscholastic hoops

A Garapan Elementary School player, third left, dribbles while Rota’s Sinapalo Elementary School defenders chase him during their game in the 2021-2022 IT&E Interscholastic Co-ed Basketball League last month at the Marianas High School Gymnasium. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The 2021-2022 IT&E Interscholastic Basketball League is now in the books, as the five-division competition concluded early this month with more than 500 students from Rota, Tinian, and Saipan participating in the program.

The CNMI Public School System through Athletic Program director Nick Gross and staff and the Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation teamed up in holding basketball games across five divisions—girls and boys middle school, boy and girls high school, and co-ed elementary—with IT&E serving as sole corporate sponsor of the entire league.

“We are grateful to IT&E for standing by its commitment to the interscholastic basketball program despite of the challenges we experienced with the schedule of the games due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” NMIBF president James Lee said.

The league kicked off with the girls middle school tournament, which started a couple of weeks late, while the high school division matches in November and December were halted for safety concerns due to the rise of the COVID-19 cases and had to undergo a revised format. The co-ed elementary and middle school divisions also had schedule changes, but ended up their competition in style as they drew the most and second-best number of student-participants, respectively. The boys middle school had 151 students from 12 teams and 10 schools from Saipan and Tinian, while the co-ed elementary drew 147 students from 14 teams and 9 schools in all three islands. The girls middle school league featured 76 players, while the girls and boys high school divisions combined for 175 students, bringing the total of NMI students that participated in the program in the 2021-2022 season to 549.

With IT&E’s continued support to the NMI youth, its corporate sponsorship to the league had assisted the NMIBF in awarding trophies and medals to the champion teams—Francisco M. Sablan Middle School (boys), Grace Christian Academy (girls middle school), Koblerville Elementary School-1 (co-ed elementary), Tinian High School (boys HS) and Marianas High School (girls HS). Each member of the champion squads and their coaches got medals. Trophies were awarded to runner-up teams, too. In the past, only the champion teams were honored and they only received trophies.

“With IT&E committing to the program, we are able to provide players and coaches trophies and medals, which are the rewards for their hard work for the season. Thank you IT&E and we look forward to our continued partnership as we work together in growing and improving our interscholastic program,” said Lee.

The NMIBF president also thanked the CNMI PSS leadership for its support and at this early will be working with Gross and the school coaches in planning for the league’s next season. Lee and other NMIBF officials were scheduled to meet with the Athletic Program director and school coaches at the Northern Marianas Sports Association conference room last night to discuss coaching and referee training courses and other matters related to the program. (PR)