{"id":348514,"date":"2021-07-23T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=348514"},"modified":"2021-07-23T06:00:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T20:00:38","slug":"nmisf-welcomes-building-of-new-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/nmisf-welcomes-building-of-new-pool\/","title":{"rendered":"NMISF welcomes building of new pool"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hirsh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation president John Hirsh said the umbrella organization of all local swim clubs is welcoming the construction of a new 50m pool at the Oleai Sports Complex.<\/p>\n

The Olympic-size swimming pool is part of the $21.2-million grant the CNMI government received from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re overjoyed. This is the first time a new Olympic pool will be built on Saipan in 40 years. The first pool was built in the mid-\u201970s when Kan Pacific took possession of that lease there and there\u2019s not been a new Olympic pool built since then for competition. So this is going to be a brand new $4-million, state-of-the-art, 50m pool and centrally located. This is huge for the swimming community in the Commonwealth and we\u2019re just so happy about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The new swimming pool couldn\u2019t have come at a better time as local swimmers haven\u2019t had a public pool to swim in since the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi closed in October 2018.<\/p>\n

Saipan Swim Club co-founder Bill Sakovich echoed Hirsh\u2019s assessment of how big a new Olympic pool would be for the islands\u2019 swimmers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is huge, something that was needed years ago. You will need to hire a pool manager who understands and maintains, this will be extremely important. What a plus for Saipan aquatic sports, safety training, and swim lessons. Can\u2019t wait to see it materialize for the sake of Saipan swimmers.<\/p>\n

He, however, added that aside from benefitting the local community, it could also be a source of much-needed sports tourism dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that pool not only will Saipan teams succeed, but also more Asian teams will come to train, money for us. In the past have had teams from Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. Next time the Olympics are in Asia, I would guess the pool would be utilized for their transition training,\u201d the CNMI Sports Hall of Famer added.<\/p>\n

Earlier, SSC coach Richard Sikkel and Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura also welcome the construction of the new Olympic-size swimming pool at the Oleai Sports Complex. Both said the central location of the new pool would entice more members of the island community to take up the sport.<\/p>\n

Triple Crown this weekend<\/strong>
\nThe second part of SSC\u2019s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series will resume this Saturday morning in the waters off Civic Center Beach at the back of the Guma Sakman\/500 Sails Inc. building.<\/p>\n

Like the first part of the NMISF-sanctioned open water series last July 10, this weekend\u2019s race will feature 20m for beginners, 50m for intermediate, 100m for advanced, 500m open, 1,000m open, 1,500m open, and the 1,000m World Championship qualifier only for selected swimmers. An awards ceremony will be held after the race.<\/p>\n

The 1,000m World Championship qualifier will chose the CNMI\u2019s representatives for the 2021 FINA World Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this coming December.<\/p>\n

SSC coach Richard Sikkel expects a better turnout in this Saturday\u2019s race compared to the July 10 competition. The third and last part of the Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series will be held on Sept. 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to this weekend\u2019s race. Same place, same time, same format. Thank you to 500 Sails for allowing us to use their facilities and providing life guards for the event. Looking forward to see more of their swimmers join this weekend\u2019s race! Thank you also to John Hirsh from the NMISF for supporting the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

To register, copy and paste https:\/\/www.webscorer.com\/register?raceid=247376&fbclid=IwAR1AaazqoHbLFoRMxJqioXhNPg8pdAmhHOz0XqxWtjFGFOxGv8a5JvU-aNw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation president John Hirsh said the umbrella organization of all local…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":321626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901],"class_list":["post-348514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-nmisf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348514","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}