“The Micronesian Basketball Tournament is something we revived and this is the first time we are going to run aged groups. There will be the 15 and under, 17 and under, 19 and under, and there will be the open category,” said Basketball Association of the Northern Marianas Islands’ Elias Rangamar in an interview with the Marianas Variety.
When asked about what the committee and coaches were looking for in an individual player who wanted to be on the team, Rangamar replied, “The first on the criteria is hustle. A player must have enthusiasm and another criteria would be their attitude towards practice.”
“Skills are important but I would list the skills as last. Because a person may have the skills but if they’re not on condition then it’s useless,” he further explained.
Rangamar plans to produce at least three groups, Pools A, B, and C so that every player who tried out may have chance to compete in off island competitions depending on which group is ready to compete at a given time.
“There will be eight islands joining the competition so we have divided it into two regions,” Rangamar further explained.
“The reason why they split the islands into two regions is simply for cost purposes. For example the Marshall and Kosrae; it will be very expensive for them to come here so each region will just have their own tournament,” said Rangamar.
The Variety also learned that that Saipan is in the same region with the CNMI, Guam, Yap, and Palau which is the designated Western Region.
The Eastern Region is composed of Republic of the Marshall Islands, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Chuuk who will have their tournament in Pohnpei.
When asked if the two winning teams from each region will go head to head or if the teams will have two separate titles Rangamar replied, “It is two separate titles.”
This year the 15 and under is scheduled to kick off in Palau and Pohnpei. Next year the 17 and under is scheduled to kick off in three different venues which are the Eastern Division in the Marshall Islands, Western Division in CNMI, and Regional in Guam.
Development of Competitions on Saipan
When asked what he planned to do with the players that have tried out he wanted them to compete in competitions on Guam.
“There are several competitions in Guam every year. We would also like to develop our competitions here so that Guam and the other islands come over. We used to have those in the past that’s why we’re trying to revive these games again,” Rangamar explained.
BANMI committees are mostly looking into youth competitions in Guam. They want to focus on the youth. “We can have competitions here as well to fundraise for money that can be used to send our teams in regional competitions such as competitions in the Philippines,” he further explained.
