Suiting up for the women\u2019s basketball team to represent the CNMI might not be the easiest thing to, but according to the players that have made the commitment to the team, it is worth every drop of their sweat.<\/p>\n
As the women\u2019s squad scrimmaged with the Garapan Rollers Thursday night in the Marianas High School Gymnasium, it was evident that they have progressed from a group of individuals to a cohesive team. <\/p>\n
They work well together, and they are willing to stand up for each other. One of the more talented cagers of the bunch, 25 year-old Connie Camacho, didn\u2019t play the part of the ball hog. Instead she moved the ball around to open players and quickly repositioned herself for the next game-time situation. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the kind of selfless team play that inspires the rest her teammates to work harder. <\/p>\n
\u201cConnie kinda started this whole thing by making us go. We didn\u2019t like it at first but she forced us. Now we love it,\u201d said teammate Vanessa Mobel.<\/p>\n
When the youngest member of the team, 15 year-old Henny Elayda, hit the ground after driving to the hoop, she didn\u2019t lay there defeated. The product of Southern High School brushed the dirt off from her shoulder and ran back to play solid defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played basketball ever since, but never on a team like this. We\u2019re going to do our best and play hard,\u201d said Elayda.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd fight \u2018til the end,\u201d added Mobel.<\/p>\n
This is why, no matter the strength of the competition, the women of the CNMI will represent the island well in the Micronesian Basketball tournament next week in Guam.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s team has been working hard under the watchful eye of coach Don Blondin, practicing every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at the MHS facility for the last six weeks. <\/p>\n
The practices are not easy; they are the kind that tests your will as a player as well as your commitment to the team. Blondin has worked the women hard and enforced a strict attendance policy to mold the team into a well-disciplined unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have seen a lot of improvement in our team, especially from the beginning and it\u2019s all thanks to coach Blondin,\u201d said Ladonna Castro.<\/p>\n
As thankful as they are to the coach for all of his efforts, the players know that they will face teams in Guam that have a much larger pool of women from which they can choose.<\/p>\n
One of the ways that coach Blondin is preparing for the conditions in Guam is by getting his players acclimatized for the upcoming tournament. While it\u2019s true that the weather in Guam isn\u2019t all that dissimilar from the CNMI, the facilities at the University of Guam are traditionally very cold inside. To get ready for the near wintry conditions inside the UoG gym, coach Blondin cranked the air-conditioning in the MHS gym to levels that froze ice candy. Not really, but it was cold enough that many of the spectators were bundled up with jackets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted the players to get a feel for what it is going to be like. You go from somewhere humid to something like this and you can really feel it in your chest. I think it\u2019s an advantage for us to have a chance to practice like this. At least I know that Chuuk probably doesn\u2019t have this opportunity,\u201d said the coach.<\/p>\n
The players of the team know that they have an uphill climb ahead of them, but one thing that will keep them strong is that they will not quit on each other. One of the players was injured last week as Castro injured her ankle. That will make it difficult for the team of nine against opponents that will most certainly run with 12. Still determined, Castro doesn\u2019t want to miss out on any of the action. \u201cI sprained my ankle, but I\u2019m gonna play if [coach Blondin] let\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That is what this team is all about. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of commitment and will,\u201d said Vanessa Mobel.<\/p>\n
The team faces its first action against a strong Palauan team at 1pm on Monday, July 5. Their second test will come against Chuuk at 11am on Tuesday, July 6, while their third opponent is this year\u2019s host, Guam at 5pm on Wednesday, July 7. The final game before the playoff portion for the team will be at 5pm on Thursday, July 8, when the women face Pohnpei.<\/p>\n
Come out to wish the CNMI women\u2019s team luck at the commuter terminal of the Saipan International Airport this morning as Emylene Oiterong, Chariss Ruluked, Vanessa Diaz, Dena Ngirchongor, Henny Elayda, Krista Cruz, Ladonna Castro, Connie Camacho, Vanessa Mobel and coach Don Blondin board a plane for Guam at 10am.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Suiting up for the women\u2019s basketball team to represent the CNMI might not be the easiest thing to, but according to the players that have made the commitment to the team, it is worth every drop of their sweat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82333","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}