The NMIFA’s team of boys 14 and under years old represented CNMI early this month, in the 2008 East Asian Football Federation’s U14 Festival and competed with Macau, People’s Republic of China, Hongkong and People’s Republic of Korea.
They arrived last Wednesday making the CNMI so proud to have another squad of front liners for the island’s quest for fame in the international football community.
The U14 Boys left the island on July 4 with coach, Nick Swaim, assistant coach Brenda Schultz and team manager Peter Coleman to participate in the football festival in Guam where CNMI was joined also by teams from Guam, Japan, Mongolia, Chinese Taipei and Korea Republic, DPR Korea.
The NMI team, Schultz said won five green cards.
A green card was awarded to the team each time they showed good sportsmanship and obviously exerted extra efforts to win.
Swaim in a telephone interview yesterday said that although the NMI’s U14 finished last, they played really well and demonstrated a great deal of never-surrender spirit.
“Our U14 National Team represented the CNMI and NMIFA with great respect on and off the field. I am very proud how they performed and played until the whistle of the last game, and the respect they earned from the officials, other teams and our supporters. I have seen improvement in one week at the higher level and hope to see more success in the coming years,” Swaim said.
Photographs taken by NMI coaching team showed how the NMI U14 tried to deal with other boys many of whom are almost twice their height.
Masami Hirai for one, managed to confront a Macau player whose height is about as twice as his.
Asst. coach Schultz narrated how “our boys were outsized” but never gave in or let down their fighting spirit.
She said that from the first whistle that marked the start of each game, up to the final signal, the NMI U14 dealt with bigger opponents like real warriors.
“Our 80-pound defenders took rockets from the other teams’ 170-pound heavy forwards again and again,” recounts Schultz.
Ten-year-old Hunter Jewell, she said took down a towering forward on a clean tackle in front of the goal which prevented a shot.
There were many “miraculous” saves from players Schultz said, especially from NMI goalkeepers, Caleb Arriola and Josiah Orlando.
After watching Arriola’s amazing efforts against People’s Republic of Korea, everyone in the crowd, including officials and spectators, clapped as the goal keeper left the field.
The NMI U14’s midfielders and forwards also pushed the ball forward against the odds to have some very good opportunities on goal.
Angelo Jones attacked the goal and surprised the Macau goalkeeper by putting his face in front of a punt in order to score.
Schultz said it was a near miss and created a lot of excitement at the field.
Jaythan Camacho kept the excitement alive by a few breakaways to the goal and shots against teams like Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong.
Schultz went on to say that few players would have had the tenacity to put themselves in a position against football giants knowing the odds were stacked against them.
“We sent 18 willing players from the CNMI that did. They not only fought but they improved dramatically over the course of the week. They learned so much about the game by playing boys that were better than them. They rose to the occasion and will make our youth program stronger as a result,” Schultz said.
The Youth Festival, Swaim said is for the improvement of Football throughout Asia. In just one week, he said the NMI U14 team has gained more knowledge and skills than months of training.
The tournament, he added was very successful for the development of youth football in the CNMI.
The NMI U14 he further said also gained the positive attention from EAFF officials with their desire to play the game.
Schultz for her said it was an honor to be invited to join this level of competition considering that NMI’s football association is so young.
“What was remarkable was that our boys did an amazing job competing with teams that have a much higher population from which to select players as well as much longer football histories. They made us so proud through their positive sportsmanship proven by winning five green cards during the tournament. Their actions didn’t go unnoticed as we received many compliments from officials about our boys improvements from two years ago and their “never say die” attitude,” Schults said.
The EAFF U-14 Festival is a bi-annual event next slated for 2010. Because the NMI team is so young, it will potentially be able to bring roughly half the team back next time, says Swaim.
“They will be bigger and should even have more skills through the continued development of the youth programs,” he said.
