{"id":326222,"date":"2020-07-10T06:06:04","date_gmt":"2020-07-09T20:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=326222"},"modified":"2020-07-10T06:06:04","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T20:06:04","slug":"cnmi-players-back-to-the-grind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/cnmi-players-back-to-the-grind\/","title":{"rendered":"CNMI players back to the grind"},"content":{"rendered":"
The NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville host the training sessions of the Commonwealth\u2019s female players three times a week. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Training with restrictions may be tough to the female members of CNMI National Team, but they will take it any time of the day just to get their high fitness level back.<\/p>\n

Just like their male counterparts, the islands\u2019 female strikers (from women\u2019s team and U18 and U16 age groups), have resumed their actual training sessions last month after nearly three months of staying away from the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are working out together, but in small groups, and are strictly observing social distancing rules and other safety guidelines set by the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association and the government, according to assistant coach Angie Ito.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we do surrounds social distancing and sanitizing before and after training. We have made guidelines and protocols for players and parents\/guardians to follow. Before the resumption of training we had online meeting with the players of the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts at the pitch,\u201d Ito said.<\/p>\n

In this 2018 photo, CNMI Women\u2019s National Team\u2019s Krizel Tuazon, right, is slightly ahead of a Guam player and her teammate Sharmaine Francisco as they chase the ball during the Marianas Cup held at the NMI Soccer Training Center. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Khristelle Itaas leads the women\u2019s U18 group training every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons and admits that it\u2019s quite a challenge to return to their usual routine after a long break and with limitations on their movements at the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter months of not training, it\u2019s been tough because our endurance wasn\u2019t there. The new set up is very different because we have to always observe social distancing. Personally, the challenge I face in training is getting back my fitness. There are times during training where I\u2019d be extremely tired and my mind would tell me to rest,\u201d Itaas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I have to remain focused and work on regaining my fitness back,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The portable benches at the NMI Soccer Training Center in Koblerville have limited seats to observe social distancing during the CNMI national team\u2019s training. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ito said that although their players are taking time to adjust to the new system of training, she has been seeing improvement from them in every session and she believes this is because of the presence of each other at the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the girls enjoy the sessions because they get to see their teammates, while coaches are able to supervise the players better, Also, there is better motivation for the girls when they see each other on the field. I\u2019m sure they just really missed NMISTC itself,\u201d said Ito, who used to work with the three teams online.<\/p>\n

Krizel Tuazon, who trains with the women\u2019s national team, said she likes how the training sessions resumed by phases.<\/p>\n

Katrina Costales, right, undergoes the routine temperature check before proceeding to the pitch at the NMI Soccer Training Center. (Krizel Tuazon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSome of us girls weren\u2019t fit in the first week, which was kind of expected because of no training on ground. We are now in Phase 2, which means no physical contact during training. And during this phase, we focus on getting back our fitness and getting back the \u2018feeling\u2019 of the ball,\u201d Tuazon said.<\/p>\n

The system works for her since she\u2019s still recovering from injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just came back from a serious injury and I\u2019m working my way up again. The team will be heading to Phase 3 soon and that\u2019s good for all of us because we will be able to challenge each other, which also means we\u2019ll be making ourselves better and getting back on track,\u201d Tuazon said.<\/p>\n

Tuazon and company are back on the grind to get ready for four competitions\u2014Marianas Cup, East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship 2021 Round 1, and two Asian Football Confederation-organized events (U20 and U17 age groups). Dates and venues of these four tournaments have yet to be announced due to the uncertainties brought by COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Training with restrictions may be tough to the female members of CNMI National Team, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":326203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-326222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cnmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326222","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=326222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}