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The Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association formally named four men\u2019s players to the CNMI National Tennis Team for this year\u2019s Pacific Mini Games.<\/p>\n
NMITA president Jeff Race earlier gave 2017 Samoa Mini Games gold medalists Colin Sinclair and Robbie Schorr automatic slots to the men\u2019s national team. Last Friday, the CNMI Sports Hall of Famer added Bobby Cruz and Colin Ramsey to the lineup.<\/p>\n
Race said he ended up picking Cruz and Ramsey after the other candidates\u2014Morris Villanueva, 2017 Mini Games veteran Ken Song, and Tony Atalig\u2014couldn\u2019t take part in a tryout for various reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the men, we didn\u2019t need to have a selection competition. Morris chose not to try out. Ken is doing an internship this summer and I have not received any confirmation from Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n
It can also be recalled that Cruz was also part of the Mini Games team five years ago but missed going to Apia after losing his passport a few days before leaving for the Samoan capital.<\/p>\n
\u201cBobby is a really steady influence on everybody. Also he wants to help coach because he can. If we have multiple matches going on in the team competition maybe I can be at boys games if the girls are also playing. He can then take one and I could take the other, He has some coaching experience and he also is a very positive person,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Race, meanwhile, sees big things for the still developing Ramsey. <\/p>\n
\u201cColin is just a very mellow and laid-back guy who works hard on his tennis game. I\u2019d say he\u2019s a been very, very disciplined in the last six months about his training and it\u2019s really paying off in the way his game is looking. His game is just much, much solid now compared to six months ago. That comes from him playing and training a lot because you figure a lot of things outside when you\u2019re playing that much,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
As for the holdovers, Race said Sinclair and Schorr have only gotten better five years removed from their men\u2019s doubles gold in Apia.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to start with Colin Sinclair because he\u2019s Mr. Gold Medal for us. It\u2019s like there\u2019s no competition. I\u2019m sure the players that he played in 2019 have been working on their game since then. I\u2019m sure Clement Mainguy of Vanuatu, who gave him the hardest time, I think Colin beat him with 6-3, 6-2, has gotten better. But he\u2019s not as good as Colin and we can see that from his Davis Cup results. I\u2019m sure Matthew Stubbings of Papua New Guinea has also improved as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
While everyone knows that the son of former Saipan residents Peter and Kathryn Sinclair is the top player in Oceania, Race said the 26-year-old has astute leadership skills as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something that Colin brings that people don\u2019t really talk about and that is he really brings leadership with him. He was a really good team leader in Samoa and he really sets a great example for the other players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinclair\u2019s leadership was in full display even prior to the Mini Games in Samoa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure Robbie [Schorr] will probably laugh at this now. Robbie had been staying in Fiji for a month or six weeks and been competing in some ITF tournaments and stuff when we sort of picked him up on the way to the Games. He was having an attitude problem you know and I had spoken to him and he kind of just walked off in a kinda very juvenile way when I was talking to him about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the now Pacific William Woods University sophomore\u2019s attitude did a complete 180-degree turn soon after meeting Sinclair. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen Colin got there in the middle of the night when Robbie was sleeping and we go out training the next day and Robbie totally lost his attitude problem. He\u2019s like \u2018this guy is amazing. He\u2019s my teammate and I\u2019m not going to make a fool of myself in front of this guy.\u2019 So Robbie took the lead from Colin and Colin is just like he\u2019s so professional in everything that he does. He\u2019s a professional tennis player and that professionalism and leadership really was sort of set the tone for the other players\u2014the guys and the girls\u2014in the Games. Colin really brings that and plus he\u2019s a lot of fun. He\u2019s always joking around and he\u2019s a super positive guy. He\u2019s got the Peter Sinclair attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Schorr, Race said the ACC Academic Honor Roll and ITA Scholar-Athlete surely has improved by leaps and bounds since the last time he saw him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re five years down the road from him playing when he was a very good player then helping us win a gold medal in 2017 when he was still a high school kid. So, now that he\u2019s a college player he\u2019ll be bringing a lot more in to this situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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