By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

A Japanese athletics group will be conducting a two-day clinic at the Oleai Sports Complex on Feb. 24 and 25.
The Kawasaki-based Ambivalence Track and Field Club will be discussing techniques and holding demonstrations on sprints and middle distances races, as well as jump and throw events.
The Japanese group will bring 13 staffers to conduct the two-day clinic. They are Hiroyuki Ogawa, Kazuya Takehara, Rokuho Wakabayashi, Takashi Kanao, Takashi Miyazawa, Yoichi Okuda and Yusuke Sakurai for sprints; Norimasa Izumi, Nozomu Numata, Tatsuhiko Matsumoto and Toru Nagakawa for middle distance and Risuke Yanagawa and Yuji Ohtsuka for jump.
The clinic will run from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon and will be divided into four parts.
The first part will be the warm- up drills, which include jogging and stretching. The second part will be about drills and demonstrations with coach Takehara illustrating bounding, running and hurdling (hip joint exercise). The third part will be running and execution, while the last will be muscular exercise and cooling down.
On Feb. 24, the Japanese will be demonstrating 30m and 60m sprints, two sets of 150m runs, a time trial in the 300m race and the 4x100m relay (under hand baton pass).
Also on Feb. 24, the group will demonstrate the basic triathlon, 100km race, long jump, 4x100m relay and throwing events to participants in the 8 to 12 age group.
On Sunday, the visitors will be teaching participants about the Swedish relay and sprint drill program.
All programs are subject to changes depending on the schedule of the group and the weather conditions.
Northern Marianas Athletics is encouraging the public to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from these elite coaches from Japan.
“As a way to continue to promote and enhance the level of our sport in our region, most especially among our youth, I encourage you to have your student athletes attend this worthwhile event,” NMA secretary general Robin Sapong said in an email to coaches, schools and other interested groups.
For more information or to confirm your participation, contact NMA developmental officer Elias Rangamar at eli_rang@yahoo.com or Sapong at sapong@pticom.com.