By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

JUNIOR tennis player Joe Motto, Jr. will be debuting in the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji, but this could be his last appearance for the NMI team as he is moving to Seattle after the tournament.
Motto will be leading the North Pacific team’s bid in the boys’ 13-and-under division of the regional meet challenging the best netters from the West and East squads. After his PJOC debut in Lautoka, he will not be returning on Saipan as he will continue his education in the mainland this school year.
The 12-year old Motto will be studying at Odle Middle School in Bellevue and will be reunited with her sister, Audrey Motto in Seattle. Audrey, who left Saipan last year, also played for the North team in PJOC and is now enrolled in a high school in Seattle.
Joe, Jr. and teammates Thea Minor, Russell Buenaventura and Christian Miller left Saipan for Fiji yesterday afternoon to join fellow junior netters Ji Hoon Heo and Mayuko Arriola in Lautoka.
Joe, Sr. will be the head of the NMI delegation, which was scheduled to meet Guam’s Katie Lai and Alea Dugan in a stopover on Guam yesterday evening. From Guam, the North team will have another stopover in Seoul, Korea before reaching their destination.
Asked what his goals in his first and last Fiji tournament are, Joe, Jr. said he wants to make the most of his PJOC trip.
“I’ve never met the players that I will play against in Fiji so I will do all my best to represent the CNMI well. I will enjoy every game in Fiji,” Joe, Jr. said.
“As for CNMI tennis, I will miss all my friends and fellow players. I will miss the tournaments and coach Jeff (Race),” added Joe, who wishes to continue playing the sport in Seattle.
“There will be fewer tournaments in the states, but I will try to keep playing,” he said.
Joe, Sr. said his son is still qualified for the North Pacific Qualifying tournament next year, but the latter’s focus right now is his education.
“We’ll see. We will cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, the priority after the Fiji tournament is to settle in Seattle and focus on his education,” Joe, Sr. said.
Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association president Eli Buenaventura, who was at the Francisco Ada International Airport yesterday for the sendoff for the NMI team said Joe, Jr.’s departure for Seattle is a loss to the commonwealth’s junior tennis program. But he hopes, the top 13-and-under player in the North Pacific, will be back next year.
When Joe, Jr. was still in the 10-and-under age group, he dominated his foes and was forced to move into a higher age group. When he was 10 years old, he was playing in the 12-and-under division. He also played in the men’s 2.0 and 3.0 divisions battling and defeating players twice or even three times his age.