By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE NMI will have Twin Towers in Tyce Mister and Mark McDonald when the island competes in the beach volleyball event in the 2007 South Pacific Games in Apia Samoa in August.
Mister is 6-foot-3, while McDonald is a few inches taller than his teammate and according to NMI coach Russ Quinn, ceiling would be an advantage for the island’s bets.
“Both are fairly tall and this will benefit them in the games,” said Quinn, who is also counting on the tandem’s experience.
“Tyce and Mark have a nice blend of experience and skill,” he added.
Both Mister and McDonald are frequent participants in local tournaments.
In regional tournaments, Mister represented the NMI three times in the SPG. Last year, he and partner Chris Nelson won the gold medal in the 6th Micronesian Games beating Palau.
McDonald and Mister started their partnership in the third of a series of qualifying tournaments for the SPG. They won four of the eight qualifiers to earn tickets to the Apia meet.
“Tyce and Mark have a good foundation, but they need to work harder in certain areas. I would like them to work on their explosiveness off the first step,” Quinn said.
“In beach volleyball, players need to be efficient at getting to the ball as quickly as possible. Having a quick first step will allow them to cover more of the court and give more power to their game,” he added.
Quinn will work on this area in the next four months and vowed to spend long hours with Mister and McDonald and Melissa Halaby and Nina Mosley of the women’s team.
“There will be lots of training, intense training,” he said.
Aside from the skills, Quinn will also focus on the team’s fitness and mental preparation.
“Mark and Tyce are both on the CNMI soccer team so they have a good fitness level on the endurance side,” Quinn said.
But he said he will still make a workout program for each player who aside from doing team drills, will do workouts even when Quinn is not around.