Ten girls have already showed up during last Monday’s tryout at the Marianas High School Gym but Basketball Association of Northern Mariana Island President Elias Rangamar said they are extending the tryout schedule to another week or so.
In an interview over the phone yesterday, Rangamar said they want to give more young female basketball players on the islands the chance to be selected to the national team.
Meanwhile, the coaching team for the boys who have already started the tryouts since Tuesday last week is confident they will complete the roster soon.
Yesterday, the trainers had the biggest number of players showing up at the Northern Marianas College Gym.
From about eight when they started the tryouts last week, the number of boys age 19 and below grew to 18 yesterday.
Assistant coach Ad Manalili expressed confident that there will be a lot of talents this year but what they are doing now is wrapping up the individual talents into a strong team.
As a matter of fact, he said the team members who had made in the 2007 Oceania Youth Tournament finals had been practicing since last year.
The boys he said did not stop flexing their muscles as they practiced in between leagues. Sometimes, they still managed to spend time practicing even during the recent island-wide cagings.
Five of those who attended the tryout yesterday were among those in the NMI team last year. They are Jericho Cruz who presently plays with Ol’ Aces in the Friends of Mariana Islands First Basketball League; Keoni Charlton who is now playing with Northern Marianas College in Inter-government/business Basketball League; Jayven Tarcon, Marvin Rabauliman and Allen Moses.
Among the thirteen new comers is Dimps White, one of the best picks of Mt. Carmel School in the Coalition of Private School Sports Association Basketball League two months ago.
The tryout schedules for the boys’ team are Tuesday and Thursday, 5 p.m., at the NMC Gym.
For the girls’ team, the tryout schedules are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the MHS Gym; Tuesday and Thursday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gym at 4:30 p.m.
