{"id":266871,"date":"2017-12-21T06:13:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T20:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=266871"},"modified":"2017-12-21T06:13:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T20:13:30","slug":"mva-allocates-250k-soccer-training-center-koblerville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/mva-allocates-250k-soccer-training-center-koblerville\/","title":{"rendered":"MVA allocates $250K for soccer training center in Koblerville"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association Training Center in Koblerville is set to open by the end of April. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a special board meeting held yesterday, the Marianas Visitors Authority allocated $250,000 for the construction of the first Northern Mariana Islands Football Association Training Center in Koblerville.<\/p>\n

After a tour of the football field last week, MVA managing director Chris Concepcion told the board that construction is coming along.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is actually really beautiful and we envision this to be a world-class sporting venue. There are already groups interested to fly in and conduct training,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, management recommends to reserve $250,000 from MVA destination and enhancement budget, similar amount to what we help fund the track and field in Oleai [beside] the Ada Gym,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Concepcion\u2019s request was unanimously approved by the members of the board headed by chair Gloria Cavanagh.<\/p>\n

Last October, the soccer training center project was presented to the MVA board by Ross Zapanta, general secretary of the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Northern Mariana Island Soccer Training Center is designed to be used for international competitions, a place where local teams would have the same tools as their competitors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility will have better lighting, better grass for the safety of players, sufficient parking, and proper seats for players and spectators. It is touted as a means to improve the playing level of the athletes and promote the sport to local players as well as the community,\u201d he added<\/p>\n

The need for a real home for CNMI soccer came as a result of shortage of soccer fields. <\/p>\n

According to Zapanta, partnerships with the Northern Mariana Sports Association and the Public School System allow practices and games to continue. However, fields are not proper soccer fields as they are shared with other sports and conditions are inadequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sport lacks a dedicated homefield with which no opportunity to grow and enhance our athletes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zapanta said the target opening is by the end of April 2018 as there were delays in shipments and materials by some vendors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soccer field will actually be finished by December but we would rather not use it until full completion so we do not want to hamper construction and safety concerns above anything else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Concepcion said that this allocation is relevant to MVA\u2019s projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cSports tourism is a very important part of MVA\u2019s marketing efforts to promote the CNMI as a healthy destination for families and individuals. It is a part of our portfolio that\u2019s why we want to support this project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited about NMIFA\u2019s project to build the soccer field. This football complex does not only cater to national teams but international teams and events as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a special board meeting held yesterday, the Marianas Visitors Authority allocated $250,000 for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":266872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,3687,2873,212],"class_list":["post-266871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-gloria-cavanagh","tag-last-october","tag-mva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266871","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\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}