{"id":374863,"date":"2022-08-26T06:06:39","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T20:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=374863"},"modified":"2022-08-26T06:06:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T20:06:39","slug":"aiken-rollers-a-talented-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/aiken-rollers-a-talented-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Aiken: Rollers a talented group"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Yamaguchi Patriots\u2019 Morgan Aiken has played for five teams in Japan\u2019s B.League since making his debut in 2015. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Japanese-American pro hooper Morgan Aiken came out impressed with the NMI Rollers girls 17-and-under team after hosting them in his basketball camp held at the Ballers Gymnasium in Harmon, Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cLed by their coach Marlene Lumabi, they are a talented group of basketball players. Although the training camp was only three days, they competed everyday with so much drive and worked hard throughout the whole session,\u201d said the\u00a0 Yamaguchi Patriots of the B.League\u2019s point guard.<\/p>\n

Aiken said in all a total of 10 players\u2014Lumabi and nine NMI Rollers girls 17-and-under players\u2014attended the three-day basketball clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan was to train a larger group, but due to unexpected circumstances, only 10 were able to fly out and participate this time around. It was still as effective as the initial plan and I hope that the group was able to benefit from the camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aiken, who attended Saint Paul Christian School in Guam before playing NCAA college basketball for Eastern University in 2013, said players from the islands have so much talent and potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut alongside talent, discipline and consistency will help get them to the next level. From getting up to train when you\u2019re tired or unmotivated, to blocking out the outside noise so you can focus on yourself. Then keep that up throughout\u00a0 months and years. Get out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself, and ask questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aiken\u2019s training camps are designed as 1 1\/2-hour long sessions and focus on all aspects of the game of basketball, from footwork, cardio, layups, shooting, defense, to core training.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe help develop and improve their full game. With all the different training camps I have had the opportunity to learn from in my professional career, I have come to find that the minor details and skills are the most\u00a0 important to know. That is what I try to focus on through all the drills and workouts that I put them through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Aiken said he\u2019s been hosting basketball camps to give back to the community and give island players the opportunity to learn from a professional basketball player.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main objective with training and hosting these types of camps is to give athletes who are passionate about basketball something I didn\u2019t have when I was growing up. I\u2019ve been so blessed with the opportunities I have worked for and I wanted to be someone to guide them and show them what it takes to get to the next level. Ultimately, I wanted to provide guidance, support and insight to the\u00a0 truth of what it takes to grow in something you put your heart into,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Born in Hawaii, the 5\u20198\u201d Aiken was the only sophomore in 2010 to make the All-Island team (second team) in the Guam IIAAG High School League. In 2011 as a junior, Aiken won the state championship, was honored First Team All-Island, and also came in second in the Slam Dunk Contest held at the Far East Tournament in Japan.<\/p>\n

Aiken is also part of the Guam national basketball team that bagged the gold medal at the 2014 Micronesian Games.<\/p>\n

Before signing with the Yamaguchi Patriots, Aiken also suited up for the Akita Northern Happinets (2015\u20132016), Tokyo Cinq R\u00eaves (2016), Five Arrows (2017), and the Saitama Broncos (2019\u20132021).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese-American pro hooper Morgan Aiken came out impressed with the NMI Rollers girls 17-and-under team…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":374864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-374863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374863","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=374863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}