THE Northern Mariana Islands Football Association has received permission from the CNMI government to build additional soccer pitches.
The lease agreement was signed during the coaching development workshop and get-together dinner held Friday in the Hibiscus Hall of Fiesta Resort & Spa.
The signatories were NMIFA president Jerry Tan, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, and Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero.
A second pitch will soon be built next to the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Training Center in Koblerville, and the clearing of the property will be done this year.
“This [new] facility will provide more opportunities for our people, especially our youth, to join the program,” the governor said. “This facility will allow the continued development of soccer in the CNMI.”
Jerry Tan, on behalf of NMIFA, thanked the governor, the Department of Public Lands, and the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs for supporting the expansion of the soccer program.
He added that NMIFA, through its supporters and partners, may have funds to construct new facilities, but they can’t build them if they don’t have the land for those facilities, so the association “is really thankful to have the opportunity to build another training center.”
He said the new facility will allow club players, not just national team players, more and frequent access to soccer pitches for their regular training sessions and other related activities.
The new training center, once built, will also allow the CNMI to bring in off-island teams for competitions.
From left, standing at the podium, Alex A. Sablan, Tan Holdings vice president for corporate business development, the governor’s senior policy advisor Robert Hunter, Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and NMI Football Association president and Tan Holdings president and chief executive officer Jerry Tan during a lease agreement signing ceremony on Friday in the Hibiscus Hall of Fiesta Resort & Spa.
Contributed photo
