{"id":402698,"date":"2023-12-22T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=402698"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"The-future-of-NMI-sports-is-very-bright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/The-future-of-NMI-sports-is-very-bright\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The future of NMI sports is very bright\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe future of NMI sports is very bright,\u201d said Northern Marianas Sports Association president Jerry Tan during the athletes\u2019 appreciation dinner last Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.<\/p>\n

In his remarks before cash incentives were given to the 2023 Pacific Games medalists, Tan said, \u201cWe are very, very proud of Team Marianas\u2026 people don\u2019t realize that athletes don\u2019t just show up and go for the games. They have to train. Some of them train everyday. So, it\u2019s a lot of commitment and hard work that makes you an NMI athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThe performance was just unbelievable. The NMI actually is considered one of the smallest members with a 45,000 population. You\u2019re competing against nations with populations in the millions\u2026 so, I just want to point out to all of you\u2014and governor\u2014that not only did we medal and break a Pacific Games record, we brought a very, very young team. There\u2019s a lot of young athletes in this group. Thank you, [Public School System interim Education] commissioner [Donna Flores], for allowing them to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the presentation of incentives, Team NMI chef de mission Nick Gross made his remarks choked up, with tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n

He first cracked jokes and said he had flashbacks to being back in Honiara as the athletes in attendance were a sea of blue in Team NMI shirts.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of his speech, the PSS Athletics Program director said Team NMI\u2019s successes and record-breaking performances does not end there as, \u201cIt never ends. It\u2019s a perpetuating circle. Do your part. Support kids\u2019 programs, come out, make tomorrow and just keep plugging away.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the near future, there are other competitions for the NMI\u2019s athletes to look forward to\u2014the Micro Games next year in the Marshall Islands, the 2025 Pacific Mini Games in Palau, the 2027 Pacific Games in Tahiti, and the other numerous regional and international competitions on the individual level.<\/p>\n

Gross also broke down the 2023 Pacific Games theme of \u201cChallenge, Celebrate, and Unite.\u201d<\/p>\n

With \u201cchallenge,\u201d he said, \u201cAlong with all the great, fantastic things, there were a few barriers, a few things that came up. Transportation seems to be a recurring theme, incessant heat\u2026 tough conditions\u2026 we had some things that got in our way for success, but in the end, we absolutely rallied.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the word \u201ccelebrate,\u201d Gross said, \u201cI\u2019m so proud of the performances put forth by the team and the support that we showed for one another throughout the two weeks\u2026 It’s hard to focus\u2014it’s hard to dig down and do what you know you have to do but we did it. We played incredibly at all levels. So, the celebration really belongs to everybody in this room. Our sponsors, thank you so very much for making it possible. But it is extended to the entire Northern Marianas, those that are here today, those that are everywhere around the world. I hope that it is a proud, proud accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for \u201cunity,\u201d Gross said, \u201cThese Pacific Games allow the vast region of Oceania to come together and truly unite through our love of sport and the sharing of our cultures on a four-year basis. Don’t think four years is so far out there. It will be here in the blink of an eye\u2026 We need the sponsors, and we need the CNMI, we need our athletes, and we need everybody in this room to grab somebody else to come along for the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Gross\u2019 almost 15-minute speech, he was met with cheers and a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

For Gov. Arnold I. Palacios\u2019 part, he congratulated the medalists and the team on their accomplishments. \u201cThis is the most successful team we\u2019ve ever sent to the Pacific Games, so congratulations Team Marianas!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo all our gold medalists, and all our medalists, the Commonwealth is very, very proud of you. To all the participants, for all your hard work to represent the Commonwealth, thank you very much. We are very, very proud of you\u2026 I know you had some challenges, but I guess that goes with most Games, and we’re glad you’re all safe back home after representing your Commonwealth in this Pacific Games. A lot of our young athletes are most likely to represent again in the next Pacific Games or the next Mini Games. So again, from a very proud community, congratulations and thank you, athletes for representing your Commonwealth very well in the 2023 Pacific Games,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The event was attended by Team NMI athletes and officials of the 10 sports federations, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, interim Education commissioner Donna Flores, Northern Marianas Sport Association board president Jerry Tan and board members, and representatives of the team’s sponsors from Joeten Daidai Foundation, Triple J, Crowne Plaza Resort, IT&E, IP&E, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Mobil, Tan Holdings, and McDonald\u2019s of Guam & Saipan.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Northern Marianas Sports Association members and the team’s sponsors pose with the bronze and silver medalists of the 2023 Pacific Games after they were handed their incentives last Tuesday night in an appreciation dinner at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Team NMI chef de mission Nick Gross delivers a heartfelt speech during the appreciation dinner for the team last Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Northern Marianas Sports Association president Jerry Tan praises the team and its young athletes on their accomplishments at the big stage of the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Gov. Arnold I. Palacios congratulated and thanked the team for their accomplishments and hard work that made the CNMI proud.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe future of NMI sports is very bright,\u201d said Northern Marianas Sports Association president Jerry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402698","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402698\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}