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MIBF eyes athletic, versatile players
Almost’s Carl Aldan, third left, drives against three Paki 3’s defenders during the Mariana Islands Basketball Federation-organized tournament late last year. MIBF will hold tryouts for the CNMI national teams that will compete in the 2018 Micronesian Games in Yap. (Contributed Photo)
Mariana Islands Basketball Federation development officer Elias Rangamar is looking to form national men’s and women’s teams built around athleticism and versatility.
Rangamar will be starting the tryouts for Saipan next month with the women’s side taking the court first on Feb. 5 from 6pm to 8pm and on Feb. 10 from 1pm to 3pm at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. Men’s tryouts will be held from 3:30pm to 5:30pm on Feb.10 and from 3pm to 5pm on Feb. 17. Tinian and Rota will have their own tryouts with the chosen players joining the pool on Saipan.
Players selected for the national teams will represent the CNMI in the 2018 Micronesia Games that will run from July 15 to 28 in Yap.
“Players on Rota and Tinian will come here and still have to go through the process. They still have to work their way to be selected on the team,” Rangamar told Saipan Tribune.
“Getting selected as representatives of Rota and Tinian is not a guarantee that you are already a member of the national team. Even the players here on Saipan will go through the tryout,” added Rangamar, who will coach both squads and also the Commonwealth’s athletics team.
Before setting the dates for the tryouts, MIBF initially planned to come up with a selection for both national teams.
“But we decided to change it, since it’s much better to hold tryouts so we can see the different skill levels of the players,” the MIBF official said.
The many-time national coach said that aside from getting several tall players, he is also looking for versatile members of both national squads.
“I hope to form teams sthat have all-around players. They handle the ball, get rebounds, and shoot. They must know the little things. I don’t want one-dimensional players. I’m going to look at players with more athleticism and have good outside shooting. These are my criteria and I’m going to look for them during the tryouts.”
For more information, call Rangamar at 2346672 or at email eli_rang@yahoo.com.
