Jeff Race poses with the Coach of the Year Award alongside Lt. Gov David Apatang and the Northern Marianas Sports Association board members during the NMSA annual awards banquet and 40th anniversary celebration at the Taga Hall of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan on Thursday.
Photos by James F. Sablan Jr.
Administrator of the Year awardee Merlie Tolentino poses for a photo with Lt. Gov David Apatang and the Northern Marianas Sports Association board members during the NMSA annual awards banquet and 40th anniversary celebration at the Taga Hall of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan on Thursday.
JEFF Race and Merlie Tolentino took center stage during the Northern Marianas Sports Association’s annual awards banquet and 40th anniversary celebration as they were named Coach of the Year and Administrator of the Year, respectively, at the Taga Hall of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan on Thursday.
In the 2024 Micronesian Games, the NMI national tennis team displayed dominance, sweeping all events and claiming a total of seven gold and two bronze medals.
Playing a key role in the team’s performance was none other than Coach Jeff Race of the NMI Tennis Federation.
Race also coached the NMI junior players in the Australian Open Junior Event and the Pacific Oceania Junior Championships in Fiji. He likewise led the NMI men’s national team in its historic and successful debut in the Davis Cup, one of the most prestigious tennis events in the world.
For Race, the annual awards banquet is a really important occasion for the entire sports community to get together and celebrate athletes, coaches, and administrators.
“Every year, I come here, and I get so struck — it’s so emotional for me,” he said in his remarks. “I look up here and I see parents, administrators, coaches, and athletes and I just think to myself, ‘these are my people.’ All of you are my people and I think that we are all each other’s people because we have so much in common — our love for sports and the NMI — and I would like to thank everybody for this award this year,” Race said.
Merlie Tolentino, the Administrator of the Year is also the Northern Marianas Badminton Association president.
Through her dedication and leadership, the NMBA has grown tremendously and, in 2024, became the first federation in the NMI and in Badminton Oceania to receive an award from a world government body of sports — the Badminton World Federation.
The NMBA’s partnership with the Public School System in hosting interscholastic badminton leagues was recognized by the BWF for the program’s excellence, innovation, impact, and sustainability.
In addition, under Tolentino’s watch, the NMI Elite National Training Program was established, and in 2024, the NMI U17 junior national team achieved a third-place finish in the Pacific Under 17 Invitational Team Challenge in Australia while the U19 team debuted in the BWF World Junior Championships in China.
Tolentino and the NMBA also played a key role in bringing two international tournaments to the NMI — the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open and the Dove Saipan International. These events gained acclaim for attracting nearly 200 elite players, including former world junior champions and Top 100 ranked athletes from 16 countries.
The candidates for the Coach of the Year and Administrator of the Year awards are nominated by their respective national federations.
This year’s winners, Race and Tolentino, each received a trophy, a $100 gift certificate courtesy of Tan Siu Lin Foundation, a one-night stay for two at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, and dinner for two at The Terrace restaurant.
