By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

BEACH volleyball is not Mark McDonald’s first sport, but he moved beyond the honeymoon stage of his new-found love, excelling enough to earn a slot on the NMI Men’s National Team.
McDonald, who admitted that he first fell in love with soccer, will be teaming up with Tyce Mister to represent the NMI in the XIII South Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa later this month.
“The first sport that I really loved to play was soccer. I started playing it at the age of six,” McDonald said in an email to the Variety.
It was on Saipan that he got into action on the sandcourt.
“I first moved to Saipan in March of 2001 to work at the Pacific Islands Club. Back then, there was a large group of players who would come out every Tuesday and Thursday for pickup games. Although I was nowhere near being one of the top players, I loved playing and as the years went by, I just got better and played as often as I could,” McDonald said.
The Marianas High School teacher is a familiar sight in local beach volleyball tournaments using his 6-foot-2 frame to block shots and hit spikes.
McDonald joined the SPG trial last year and he and Mister dominated the series of qualifying tournaments to earn a Samoa trip.
“I’ve always been able to pick up most sports fairly quickly. Although I understand it takes a lot of work to become good, I can usually be competitive in most sports in a short period of time,” McDonald said.
Mister, who will be making his third trip to SPG this year, agreed that despite McDonald being a rookie in the regional tournament, his teammate will be a force to reckon with.
“Mark is a fantastic beach volleyball partner. This is his first international tournament, but I am not worried about it as he has participated in other sports at high levels of competition. We will do fine under pressure as he is very easy to work with on the court,” Mister said.
McDonald represented the NMI in a regional soccer tournament early this year facing Guam in the East Asian Football Federation qualifying meet. He scored the two goals in the commonwealth’s 2-3 loss to Guam.
Now, McDonald will be in Samoa and he is upbeat about representing the NMI anew.
“I am very excited about representing the CNMI in SPG. Growing up, I always wanted to compete in the Olympics, so this is the next best thing, a major international event,” McDonald said.
McDonald believes they’ve trained enough to have a good chance for the medal in SPG.
He said the training is very intense as every week they have to do distance running, undergo weight training and jumping exercises and play games in a couple of days. They also do drills to refine the basic skills of the game.
Coach Russ Quinn is supervising the rigorous training.
“My goal is to make it into the final eight. I’d love to come home with a medal, but there are a bunch of good teams there. I just want to represent the CNMI to the best of my ability,”