{"id":395491,"date":"2023-07-07T06:06:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T20:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=395491"},"modified":"2023-07-07T06:06:57","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T20:06:57","slug":"17-players-2-coaches-off-to-pojc-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/17-players-2-coaches-off-to-pojc-today\/","title":{"rendered":"17 players, 2 coaches off to POJC today"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
CNMI players that will be part of the North Pacific Team in the 2023 Pacific Oceania Juniors Championships in Nadi, Fiji pose for a group photo after practice with coach Jeff Race, third from left.(MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CNMI will be sending 17 players as well as coaches Jeff Race and Colin Ramsey to this year\u2019s Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Nadi, Fiji.<\/p>\n

Joining the North Pacific Team are boys 16\u2019s Henry Choi and June Yu,\u00a0 girls 16\u2019s Hoo Wang and Irin Chung, boys 14\u2019s LaHunn Lam, Siwoo Lee, and Nason Wessel, girls 14\u2019s Hannah Chae, Anne Lee, and Lina Tsukagoshi, boys 12\u2019s Ryan Choi, Michael Jeon, and Daniel Kang, and girls 12\u2019s Stella Choi, Vivian Chung, and Jenna Pascual.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs usual we\u2019re the biggest team in the Pacific. I think as a team we\u2019ll have a pretty solid performance. Our girls 12 team won the North Pacific Regional Championships and they are young but can do some damage. LaHunn Lam will be one of the top seeds in the boys 14 and has some strong teammates. But Fiji is the best in the region and there are very few easy matches,\u201d said Race.<\/p>\n

Ramsey, who will be making his coaching debut in Fiji, said it\u2019s pretty much out of the frying pan into the fire as far as his coaching the CNMI\u2019s POJC team goes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t planned to go with the team to Fiji until Jeff mentioned that the Oceania Tennis Federation was willing to sponsor two NMI coaches. I felt honored that he asked me to join him and the team. I traveled with the team to Guam and thought that was the end of the line for me, but I readily jumped on this opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ramsey is just glad to help Team CNMI and North Pacific Team any way he can in the POJC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 12-and-under division, a coach is allowed to be on court with the players during their changeovers. I think it\u2019s a great idea since the pressure of the match can be a lot for the kids, especially in these off island tournaments. We have two 12s teams and I know Jeff can\u2019t be in two places at once. The younger kids will be my focus. As for the others, we\u2019ve been working hard since returning from Guam. Strength, speed, consistency, and mental training. I was excited to share some things I\u2019ve learned as a player with the kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also thanked Race for the opportunity to turn a new chapter in his tennis career by coaching Team CNMI in Fiji in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Jeff has always been a mentor to me. Through my own coaching, I\u2019ve gained a newfound respect for all that he\u2019s done. It takes a real love for the NMI and of course tennis to do what he has for so long. We haven\u2019t talked much about my plan for coaching the kids. He gave me free rein in that regard and I\u2019m thankful for his trust in me. I worked around his days and made sure they got as much playing time as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trip to Fiji is also sort of a walk through memory lane for the 23-year-old top-ranked player in the Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Federation rankings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has all evoked feelings of nostalgia for me. In Guam, I saw some coaches and players I recognized from my junior years. I can only imagine there will be more in Fiji to catch up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the players, all are excited for the opportunity to go off-island and compete against the best from the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectations going into Fiji is to have an amazing experience and play my best with the great players there. I\u2019m very excited to compete in the POJC and I hope my hard work pays off!\u201d said Hoo Wang.<\/p>\n

La Hunn Lam and Simon Tang pretty much echoed what Wang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very excited to compete in the POJC with Team NMI. I will do my best to perform well. I am sure I will have great competition and a wonderful time in Fiji. I can\u2019t wait to be there,\u201d said Lam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited to join because it\u2019s my first time and it\u2019s actually my last year to join. I have never been to Fiji before. I tried last year to join but it didn\u2019t come out the way I wanted it to,\u201d added Tang.<\/p>\n

Lina Tsukagoshi said she\u2019s \u201cextremely grateful to have the opportunity to compete in the POJC once again. I expect this year to be way harder than last year since I have moved up a level. I know some of the people I will be competing against and I am nervous but I will try my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Irin Chung, she already expects to go up against tough competition in Fiji.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am expecting many challenging matches in the POJC this year as I will be competing in the U16 this year. The POJC only happens once every year so it gets me excited every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

June Yu, for his part, promises to be the best version of himself playing in the POJC.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectations for the POJC is to do a best match and I am very excited to go to Fiji.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CNMI will be sending 17 players as well as coaches Jeff Race and Colin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":395492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1140],"class_list":["post-395491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-pojc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395491","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=395491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}