{"id":321277,"date":"2020-04-20T06:06:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T20:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=321277"},"modified":"2020-04-20T06:06:05","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T20:06:05","slug":"blue-ayuyus-moving-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/blue-ayuyus-moving-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Ayuyus moving forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_321280\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-321280\" style=\"width: 1308px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nmifapix-1.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-321280\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The CNMI\u2019s Anthony Fruit, second left, battles a Guam player for possession during their game in last year\u2019s Marianas Cup at the Guam Football Association National Training Center in Dededo. (Guam Football Association)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Players of the CNMI Men\u2019s National Team have been through many lessons and challenges on and off the pitch that moving forward with their preparation for an international tournament amid this coronavirus pandemic has become natural for them.<\/p>\n<p>More than 20 players have been practicing drills and working out on their own at home since their regular training sessions at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville were suspended last month due to the COVID-19 crisis. Off-island players have also been participating in the online training workout programs devised by Northern Mariana Islands Football Association\u2019s pool of coaches with inputs from BBJ Athletics\u2019 Jerry Diaz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a very hard time for everyone right now. Players and their families, and the CNMI\u2019s safety is our first priority,\u201d said NMIFA technical director and CNMI Men\u2019s National Team head coach Michiteru Mita when asked about coming up with a system to continue their training sessions while following the government\u2019s guidelines on social distancing and other safety precautions against the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven at this difficult time, our players are not stopping with their workout while ensuring that they are following the government\u2019s orders,\u201d he added.  <\/p>\n<p>Coaches send workout drills for players to follow, while members also shoot videos of their personal workout to exchange ideas with those involved in the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey post in our group chat their workout and diet to inspire and motivate each other. I\u2019m also motivated by them,\u201d Mita said.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-321277 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\/blue-ayuyus-moving-forward\/nmifa-pasa-pix-1-3\/'>NMIFA-pasa-pix-1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/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\/blue-ayuyus-moving-forward\/nmifa-pasa-pix-2-3\/'>nmifa-pasa-pix-2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-321279'>\n\t\t\t\tCNMI coaches and players meet online to perform and monitor training drills. (Contributed Photo)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>The Blue Ayuyus are moving forward with their training regimen to get ready for the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship 2021 Round 1, which is supposed to be held in July and September, but has been pushed back to a later date. Changes in the schedule has been made after the Asian Football Confederation and F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association announced last week that matches and tournaments during the March and June 2020 window will be postponed to October and November this year. The new schedule of the EAFF event will be released once FIFA and AFC have decided on the revised dates for the affected matches.<\/p>\n<p>Mita upon learning about the postponement took it as another challenge that the Blue Ayuyus can hurdle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good that EAFF will still try to hold the tournament and just move the date because the worst case scenario is cancellation. We are working hard for this tournament because joining an international competition and representing the CNMI is always the biggest motivation for our players,\u201d the Blue Ayuyus coach said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur players understand this and they also understand how to get through these difficult times because they have learned from their tough games. They have also learned from the past typhoon (Yutu). Players overcome these trials and always come back stronger. That\u2019s way I believe whatever challenges they face they will just keep moving forward,\u201d Mita said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Players of the CNMI Men\u2019s National Team have been through many lessons and challenges on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":321281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1062],"class_list":["post-321277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-blue-ayuyus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321277","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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}