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Junior tennis players leave for regionals
The CNMI Junior Tennis Team will leave for Guam this weekend as it aims to keep its reign in the ITF North Pacific Regional Championships 2015.
CNMI coach Jeff Race, center, poses with some players who will go to Guam to compete in the ITF North Pacific Regional Championships 2015 during a break in their training session at the Pacific Islands Club yesterday. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
The squad will be leaving in two batches with Malika Miyawaki and Tania Tan going to Guam this afternoon and coach Jeff Race, Mimi Sakano, Asia Raulerson, Robbie Schorr, Ken Song, Vincent Tudela, Steven Goodwin, Haruya Eda, Rintaro Miyawaki, Sean Lee, Seung Jin Paik, and Ji Min Woo, Conatsu and Coume Kaga, Erica Tuttle, Maria Gregoire, Isabel Heras, and Ami Tsukagoshi taking the evening flight tomorrow.
“We’re all set and I am confident we can still dominate,” said Race, who made a countdown for the regionals and marked each day with morale-boosting messages for the team.
Yesterday’s message read “Days until NPRC: 4; Never Give Up.”
“I’ve been doing this for a month, trying to boost their confidence and mental toughness leading to the competition. Today, I told them why they should never give up even if they’re way down in the match. When you’re behind, you tend to be so nervous and forget to play your game, so I told them to stay focus and keep going. It feels great to make a comeback and win,” Race added.
Race’ wards has been ruling the regionals for the last seven to eight years and every competition he has to find ways to motivate the CNMI bets so that they will not be too confident come tournament time.
In the regionals, the Commonwealth players will be challenging representatives of host Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. Participants will be playing in the boys and girls U12, U14, U16, and U18 singles and doubles. The CNMI does not have entries in the girls U18 singles and doubles and boys U16 with some of its players in those age groups deciding not to go in Guam.
“We have solid U12 and U14 teams,” Race said.
The ITF North Pacific Regional Championships 2015 will kick off this Monday and will run until Saturday at the Rick Ninete Tennis Center in Hagatna.
