{"id":404289,"date":"2024-01-29T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=404289"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"NMIFA-bids-coach-Michiteru-Mita-sayonara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/NMIFA-bids-coach-Michiteru-Mita-sayonara\/","title":{"rendered":"NMIFA bids coach Michiteru Mita sayonara"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association bid national team head coach\/technical director Michiteru Mita goodbye in a surprise farewell luncheon last Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.<\/p>\n

Mita\u2019s tenure was almost seven years from his arrival to the NMI on Feb. 19, 2017 and has led NMIFA to many successes and milestones. He\u2019s leaving today, Jan. 29, 2024, for Myanmar to coach the U15 and U17 boys national team and become the youth director.<\/p>\n

A video of Mita\u2019s successes was shown, with such successes such as: he created a comprehensive guide for NMIFA member clubs, outlining the progression of youth players from U6 and U18 divisions; established a systematic approach to monitor and evaluate the ongoing development of youth players; documented and developed NMIFA grassroots program, seeking official recognition from the Asian Football Confederation to qualify for technical and financial support; created a pathway for training and certification of local coaches; implemented a program offering financial incentives and technical support; significantly contributed to the enhancement of NMI national teams; and successfully collaborated with Japan Football Association, securing technical and financial support for training camps in Japan, among many others.<\/p>\n

After, a video message was shown, with messages from Kiyoshi Sekiguchi, former NMIFA technical director and national team head coach; Kohtaro Goto, Dev Bachani, Jerald Aquino, and Merrick Toves, off-island national team players; Norman Del Rosario, former NMIFA executive committee member; Catherine Attao-Toves, NMIFA executive committee member; coach Jimmy Tang, NMI women\u2019s team assistant coach; and Luam Khen Kho, NMI women\u2019s national team coach.<\/p>\n

NMIFA\u2019s football clubs\u2014Kanoa FC, Matansa FC, MP United, Latte FC, Shirley\u2019s FC, Piare FC\u2014along with the boy\u2019s\/men\u2019s and girl\u2019s\/women\u2019s national teams, and NMIFA executive committee and board members were in attendance at the luncheon.<\/p>\n

The luncheon gave the clubs in attendance a chance to say their well wishes and parting gifts such as jerseys, gift baskets, among others.<\/p>\n

NMIFA president Jerry Tan attributed the FA\u2019s success to Mita and said that he was a \u201cgame-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tan said the NMIFA facility in Koblerville was one contribution to NMIFA\u2019s success, but that Mita was the \u201cbiggest game-changer. When you build a facility, it takes money. If you don’t have money, you can borrow, just like business. But when it comes to the program, when it comes to coaching, when it comes to really impacting not just the national team but also to the community\u2014that one is not something you can buy with money. Even if AFC gives us a million dollars, we cannot say \u2018Oh, in the next three years, we’re going to improve,\u2019 Money doesn’t translate into success. It is the program. It is an individual like coach Mita. He put his heart into our community into our boys and girls from Day 1 and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mita, at the end of the well wishes and gifts, gave an emotional speech in which he said he was the \u201cluckiest person in the world.\u201d He said, \u201cIt was an incredible journey together with you guys. In these seven years, we have achieved many things because of you guys. I learned so much from you and I was just very lucky these past seven years. I have worked with many other member associations in other countries, but I can say NMIFA is the best member association.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then thanked everyone and said, \u201cNMI is always in my heart. Someday, I want to come back here as a coach again. Thank you Jerry, for your leadership. I learned a lot from you. I\u2019ve never seen a president who\u2019s so passionate. You guys are so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the luncheon, Mita was asked how he felt about the surprise party and said he had no idea about it. \u201cIt was a big surprise. I didn\u2019t know. I thought we were just going to have lunch.\u201d When asked what his favorite memory is, he said, \u201cEverything. They\u2019re all good memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NMI national soccer teams pose with outgoing national team head coach\/technical director, Michiteru Mita, front row, eighth from right, during his surprise farewell luncheon at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan last Saturday.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Northern Mariana Islands Football Association executive committee members and staff, along with NMIFA president Jerry Tan, fifth from left, pose with outgoing national team head coach\/technical director, Michiteru Mita, sixth from left, during his surprise farewell luncheon at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan last Saturday.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Northern Mariana Islands Football Association bid national team head coach\/technical director Michiteru Mita goodbye…<\/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-404289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404289","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=404289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404289\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}