The men\u2019s basketball team that will represent the CNMI in the 6th Micronesian Games has been officially named as veteran coach Rufino Aguon announced his 12-man roster Friday evening at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium.<\/p>\n
After months of intense training during tryout sessions, Aguon disclosed the make-up of his team, which he describes as one of the most physically fit team he\u2019s ever coached in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the guys that stuck around realized that they have the skills but the problem is they\u2019ve never been taken to the next level in terms of physical training,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Having the honor and privilege of suiting up for Team CNMI in the Micro Games are Danandro Barcinas, Jeremy Winkfield, John Sablan, Mel Manibusan, Mark Wallace, Kelvin Fitial, Jeremy Sablan, James Lee, Fred Pelisamen, Oscar Ada, James Villacrusis, and Gus Palacios <\/p>\n
Ada, who will provide Aguon some height in the paint, is expected to arrive from Hawaii on May 17.<\/p>\n
Aguon also added Joe Kapileo as an alternate and possibly will name two more alternates to the list, explaining that he has until June 22 to submit his final roster to organizers of the Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can always change my mind,\u201d he said. \u201cThe alternates are there in the case that someone gets injured and can\u2019t compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team also includes assistant coach Alvin \u201cChamp\u201d Fejeran.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on all the practices and what they\u2019ve been doing, one thing I know for sure is that these guys will do whatever it takes,\u201d Aguon said as he described the team\u2019s strength. \u201cPractice was very intense, and if they can take this torture, I know they\u2019re going to go out there and give their best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after winning the title of the San Jose Fiesta Basketball Tournament, Aguon said all his cagers signed basketball contracts that listed all his expectations from the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s to ensure that we\u2019re all on the same page,\u201d Aguon said. \u201cIt states things that we should do and not do. As a coach, I use the contract to keep them focus\u2026if you don\u2019t [stay focus] all the hard work won\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aguon\u2019s team is currently prepping for the Games through competition in the 2006 Budweiser Cup BANMI Men\u2019s Island-wide Basketball League, which was strictly organized by BANMI for that purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly time will tell if the Bud Cup is enough,\u201d Aguon said as he explained that experience in real competitive games is one of the keys for the team to prepare for the Micro Games. <\/p>\n
Aguon explained that while only playing twice so far in the Bud Cup, he has seen a big improvement in terms of his players playing as one force.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like what I see\u2026they\u2019re starting to gel and know their roles, and that\u2019s the key ingredient,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The men\u2019s basketball team that will represent the CNMI in the 6th Micronesian Games has been officially named as veteran coach Rufino Aguon announced his 12-man roster Friday evening at the Northern Marianas College Gymnasium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100649\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}