All expenses for the trip are paid.
Representing the CNMI will be Ed Ello J. Cudia and Jeraldine Castillo, both 14, and both students at Hopwood Jr. High School and Joe Diaz, a youth basketball coach.
Interestingly, Ed and Jeraldine share the same date of birth: February 10, 1996.
Cudia plays for his school’s basketball team at Hopwood Jr. High School, and helped them to an undefeated season and the league championship.
In his application, Cudia said, “I am really devoted to the game of basketball, and it will be really exciting to be in a basketball camp in a country where I have never traveled to.I will be really honored to go to Turkey and represent my home.This experience can also help me out when I return to the CNMI.I can help out my team, and other kids in the CNMI, by telling them everything that I learned, and how different people from around the world are, especially when it comes to the sport of basketball.”
Castillo also plays on her school team, and was selected as its most valuable player.In her application, Jeraldine promised that, “When I get back, I would teach my people of the CNMI the skills that I was taught there so that they all can be playing and enjoying basketball.”She wants to meet other kids who are interested in basketball, and hopes to become friends with them.
Diaz is a fixture on the local youth basketball scene, and coaches for the Rollers Basketball Club teams.
He began coaching in the 1990s, and has led teams in youth tournaments on Guam as well as Saipan.His coaching philosophy is that coaches can teach a player how to play the game, but players can teach the coach, too.The effort has to be mutual.Diaz adds that coaches have the responsibility of helping to develop other coaches as well as players.
BANMI President Elias Rangamar said, “We were impressed with the qualifications of everyone who applied.Our choices were not easy ones, but we are confident that the campers we selected will bring credit to the CNMI, and will bring their knowledge and experience back home so that others can benefit too.”
The Children of the World Basketball Camp is a social and cultural basketball project that will bring together teenagers from around the world.Most of FIBA’s 212 national basketball federations are expected to participate, so the Camp will offer an unforgettable experience for the participants. (PR)
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