{"id":266805,"date":"2017-12-20T06:00:53","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T20:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=266805"},"modified":"2017-12-20T06:00:53","modified_gmt":"2017-12-19T20:00:53","slug":"22-players-join-nmifa-goalkeeping-clinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/22-players-join-nmifa-goalkeeping-clinic\/","title":{"rendered":"22 players join NMIFA goalkeeping clinic"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-266805 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/22-players-join-nmifa-goalkeeping-clinic\/nmifapix2-19\/'>nmifapix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-266822'>\n\t\t\t\tCNMI Boys U18 National Team goalie Chris Aninzo demonstrates goalkeeping drills to players during the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association\u2019s clinic at the Koblerville Elementary School Field last Saturday. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/22-players-join-nmifa-goalkeeping-clinic\/nmifapix1-bw\/'>nmifapix1-BW<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-266821'>\n\t\t\t\tCoaches and participants in the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association\u2019s goalkeeping clinic pose for a photo at the Koblerville Elementary School Field last Saturday. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Northern Mariana Islands Football Association held another goalkeeping clinic last Saturday at the Koblerville Elementary School Field, drawing 22 participants in the morning session.<\/p>\n<p>Last weekend\u2019s clinic was third of a series of NMIFA\u2019s goalkeeping seminars and it was for players in  the 12 and above age group. Fourteen boys and eight girls attended the event and learned techniques in goalkeeping.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to have this goalkeeping clinic because being a goalkeeper is a very important position.  I saw many international matches where goalkeepers changed the games results by saving goals,\u201d NMIFA technical director and CNMI Men\u2019s National Team head coach Michiteru Mita said.<\/p>\n<p>Saipan Soccer School staff Angie Ito and Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong\u2019s Jimmy Tang assisted Mita in conducting the first three goalkeeping clinics. Also lending a hand during last Saturday\u2019s session were CNMI national team goalies Christopher Aninzo and Carla Ballesteros, NMIFA assistant coach Jersh Angeles, and Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong\u2019s Jacky Lee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goalkeeping clinic is an experience that many should take advantage of. We often take for granted the position of a goalkeeper. Not many kids aspire to become a goalkeeper nor does it attract the attention of those who have little to no knowledge about soccer. Most of my friends and family wonder why I play this certain position. I respond and say \u2018It\u2019s the toughest job and only a few can handle the pressure. I can either help save the game or lose it. I chose to save it,\u2019\u201d Aninzo said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just arrived from the NMI U18 Hong Kong trip and played against the top U18 youth clubs there. We came back with great result having two wins and two clean sheets on my end and it was definitely a game changer. I hope to continue seeing more and more kids come out to participate and learn the basics of goalkeeping through this program,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Lee is excited to see new players showing interest in goalkeeping.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cI am very happy to see many new faces in the clinic. I am also very happy to see a better number of girls on the field trying to do goalkeeping. I will share this good news to coach Koo,\u201d said Lee, who was referring to Chelsea FC Soccer School Hong Kong technical director and CNMI Women\u2019s National Team coach Luam Khen Koo.<\/p>\n<p>Kanoa Football Club\u2019s Jonathan Mindanao and Paire FC\u2019s Cathlyn Reyes were among the participants in last Saturday\u2019s event and loved every bit of the session.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goalkeeping clinic was really fun. I love being a goalkeeper because it is an important position in a soccer team since we are the ones communicating with the players and we see everything. Without the goalkeeper, no one will be saving shots for the team and then the whole squad will lose and that\u2019s a bad feeling,\u201d the Kanoa goalie said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first I was sort of shy because I don\u2019t know most of the other goalkeepers, but later it started to be more fun and much easier. I want to be a goalkeeper because it is the position I mostly play and I am good at it. Also, goalkeeping involves a lot of thinking and strategies and I love both,\u201d Reyes said.<\/p>\n<p>For his part, Angeles said that Reyes, Mindanao, and others who will make up the CNMI\u2019s pool of goalkeepers will be great assets to the islands\u2019 grassroots program if trained regularly and properly.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cA good goalkeeper can change the game. Goalkeepers nowadays play high outside the box and become the last defender,\u201d Angeles said.<\/p>\n<p>NMIFA\u2019s goalkeeping program is highly recommended by its president Jerry Tan, as he encouraged various clubs to send their representatives to the series of clinics and capitalize on this great opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>The next goal keeping session will be held this Saturday at the Koblerville pitch from 8am to 9:30am. New players are welcome to join the clinic. (Saipan Tribune)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northern Mariana Islands Football Association held another goalkeeping clinic last Saturday at the Koblerville Elementary&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":266821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26,1779,198,514],"class_list":["post-266805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cnmi","tag-national-team","tag-nmifa","tag-saipan-soccer-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266805","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}