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NMIVA News Wire
MCBVF: Kid's Cup Saipan Continued to March 24
 All teams registered to play are invited to come out on Tuesday, March 24th, to continue in pool play and double elimination. Additional teams are welcome to join. Player substitutions of existing teams to fill in for those who might not have enough players are welcome to make replacements. All NEW players will be charged $5/player. All existing players do not need to pay again. ALL PLAYERS NEW AND OLD MUST CHECK-IN AT REGISTRATION TABLE NO LATER THAN 8:30AM If you have questions please direct them to Ms. Mili Saiki at Saipan International School (670) 288-9660/1 or milisaiki@hotmail.com or nmivolleyball@gmail.com |
NMIVA selects Pacific Games beach volleyball players
 Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands - Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association (NMIVA) is pleased to announce athlete and coach selections for Pacific Games 2015 in Papau New Guinea this coming July. The men's team will be Clay McCullough-Stearns partnered with Andrew Johnson and the women's team will be Charnessa "Chenny" Lizama partnered with Toni Kasilyn Yamada. They will be coached by head beach volleyball coach Jeff Carlucci and assistant coaches Darcy Wylie and Codie Sayles. NMIVA President Laurie Peterka stated, "NMIVA began setting up a plan for selecting players in late 2014. Unfortunately, then head coach Russ Quinn wasn't able to continue volunteering, so it put the whole plan for going to the Pacific Games into question. The board had to decide whether the project could be rescued as our resources are stretched quite thin with other programs coming online." Peterka continued, "This was when the board agreed that a committee approach would be best to help formulate a plan, set up a structure and allow NMIVA to keep the project on its schedule. We tasked the PG2015 project committee to establish the structure and guidelines for the selection process during the month of January." Secretary/Board Member Amie McRoberts commented, "While in previous years, NMIVA followed a qualifier series model-type for selecting athletes, time being of the essence, the committee decided to try a different model of approach. The model consisted of a combination of athletes' playing experience, athletic ability, commitment and sportsmanship. The board supported their re-modeled vision." Requests for expressions of interest were posted on NMIVA's blog and noticed in the newspapers the first week of February. The notice asked that players and coaches notify NMIVA of their interest via email by February 15. By the deadline NMIVA received email from three coaches and nine players (5 male and 4 female). Two applicants were former residents living in the mainland. NMIVA communicated further instructions to athletes regarding anticipated commitments, tryouts, resumes and next steps. The tryout was held February 21, 2015 for on-island athletes while off-island athletes submitted video tryouts; each of them meeting the required February 28, 2015 deadline. Resumes from all athletes were received by the February 20, 2015 due date. Five evaluators were present at the on-island tryout: former head coach Russ Quinn, new head coach Jeff Carlucci, former national team player and coach Tyce Mister, and current youth development coaches Darcy Wylie and Codie Sayles. Coaches kept independent notes for each athlete, which were turned over to the committee. The video tryouts were also reviewed. The committee made its recommendations to the NMIVA board, which included structuring for coaches and a timeline for selecting athletes. Their recommendation was for a head coach and as assistant coach (or coaches) as opposed to a men's team coach and a women's team coach. The head coach would be responsible for selecting and organizing assistant coaches and selecting athletes. This model allows for flexibility and best availability of volunteer coaches for the athletes. It also assures the highest quality training programs for athletes. Carlucci's professional experience includes playing professional competitive beach volleyball with the AVP and at FIVB events and motivational training skills. Carlucci was nominated to be the head coach by the committee and approved by the board last week. Carlucci accepted the position and will be utilizing both Wylie and Sayles along with Russ Quinn, Tyce Mister and Kathy Winkfield to fill in as their schedules allow. Coaches are 100% volunteers; NMIVA does not have the resources to hire any staff. Beginning March 8, 2015 coach Carlucci began informing athletes of his decisions via email and/or in person. Those athletes not named as 'selected' will remain on the coaches' roster as alternates for the games to be called upon if injuries or extenuating circumstances might cause those selected to withdraw. Carlucci will be meeting with assistant coaches early next week to map out the training calendar, to prepare athlete contracts and plan the first athletes' meeting. "Basically, athletes will be actively engaged in some type of training no less than three days per week and working on creating new daily personal health habits," stated Carlucci. Elaborating further, Carlucci shared, "Much of their time will be spent on cross-training and plyometrics in order to improve endurance and strength as well as overall health and fitness. Training will also focus on strategy and honing position-specific skills, sportsmanship and communications. Former CNMI national team beach players will participate in scrimmages to simulate real-time implementation of the foregoing training plan. I will be relying on assistant coaches for some very intense one-on-one training." The committee's next steps will include organizing athletes' and coaches' paperwork required by Northern Marianas Sports Association (NMSA). Additionally, athletes, coaches, and committee members will meet to discuss fundraising plans. Due to limited resources, NMIVA will only be able to provide equipment and contribute to uniform costs. All other costs will be the personal responsibility of the athletes and coaches. Pacific Games 2015 will be held in Port Moresby, Papau New Guinea July 1-18, 2015. NMIVA has approved and is assisting one each men's and women's teams to attend the beach volleyball portion of the competition slated for the second week of the event. EDITOR'S NOTE: 03/13/15 - A total of five male athletes submitted their expression of interest and tried out. |
Kids Cup this Sunday
 The Kids Cup is a 4-player co-ed beach volleyball event where each team is required one opposite gender on the the court at all times. There are two divisions in the Saipan event (17U and 13U) while Guam's version will be 14U. This will be the 11th Kids Cup in Saipan, while it will be Guam's 4th year in a row. "In Saipan, we are expecting upwards of 120 players out on the beach. This is a very, very popular event with our youth athletes," stated Saipan's event director, coach Mili Saiki of Saipan International School (SIS). More information please use the following links: Registration discount for teams who submit their teams information to Coach Saiki at SIS by Friday, March 13th. Forms and payment will be accepted Sunday morning beginning at 7:30am. We would like to thank our many wonderful sponsors for making this event possible: MVA, United Airlines, GVB, Fiesta Resort & Spa, DoCoMo Pacific, Practical Solutions, Powerade, Toyota RAC, Saipan International School, Elliott Artwork, Seafix, KSPN2, KKMP, Tano Group, Foremost Scoops, Subway, Coca Cola, Aloha Maid, Smile Marianas, Marianas Eye Institute, Marianas Medical Center, Deloitte, Lollipops, AIC, San Vicente States, Fishing & Tackle (L& F), Brabu Pharmacy, Law Office of Josh Berger, Law Office of Sean Frink, Law Office of Bruce Berline, Natural Nail SPA, I love Saipan, Okadaya, and National Office Supply. Sanctioned and supported by: FIVB, AVC, OZVA, GVBF and NMIVA. |
CNMI High School All Stars indoor program first meeting
 Coaches Darcy Wylie, Codie Sayles, JR Gechig and Mili Saiki presented on requirements and expectations, fundraising, the initial target competitions, the practice schedule and finished off with a brief discussion regarding the enrollment packet. Approximately 57 of the sixty nominated students were present along with a few parents. NMIVA President Laurie Peterka offered opening remarks about the dreams of seeing a pathway program for developing next level player skills and talent. The long term vision is for the All Star indoor program to be a pathway for developing an official indoor national team. Coach Wylie carried on with an explanation of nominees were selected and explained the program's first target competition. Coach Sayles explained the player point system that will be used to monitor participation in addition to actual skills and performance. Coach Saiki shared her experience and offered her support for how fundraising will work. A big subject was expectations of players, where Coach Wylie drove home points on commitment, sportsmanship, teamwork and hustle. NMIVA's High School All Stars is a pilot program being launched and tested with several objectives in mind. You can read more about it at: NMIVA High School All Stars Program kicks off |
Cramer-Johnson, Demapan-Frink pairs triumph
Reposted from Saipan Tribune: By Jon Perez | Posted on Mar 09 2015 Tag: Fiesta Resort, Guam, Joshua Andrew, Nak Nakashima  Misaki Cramer and Andrew Johnson and Zena Demapan and Phalai Frink ruled their respective divisions in yesterday’s Marianas Junior Cup Under-19 Beach Volleyball Festival at the Fiesta Resort’s beach side.The Saipan-born Cramer, who is now based in Guam, teamed up with Johnson where they bested 10 other pairs in the boys’ division. They swept all of their four matches, beating T.J. Eina and Nak Nakashima in the finals, 21-17. It was Cramer and Johnson’s second straight win over the Eina-Nakashima tandem as they also scored a 21-11 decision in the early stages of the tournament to clinch the first finals berth. Cramer and Johnson also defeated Sammy Litulumar and Kimo Olopai, 21-16, and scored a 21-4 triumph over Billy Hinson and Karlo De Leon. Johnson had no difficulty shifting to the sand court after he previously won an indoor boys’ volleyball crown with the Saipan International School Geckos last year in the Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization. Eina and Nakashima opened their campaign with a 21-19 win over A.J. Hambros and Joshua Andrew then followed it up with a 21-19 decision against Jonathan Jonah and Quintin Ramsey. They lost to Cramer and Johnson to drop to the loser’s bracket where they needed a 21-18 victory over Hinson and De Leon to arrange a finals date with their tormentors. It was also the same story in the girls’ side with Demapan and Frink sweeping their four games to beat 11 other pairs. Demapan and Frink had an easy road to the finals and quickly dispatched Nilani Cepeda and Julie Reyes, 21-5; downed Nicole Arenovski and Adele Hudkins, 21-11; and trounced Lauren Alegria and Aimi Iwan, 21-7, to secure the first finals spot. Arenovski and Hudkins, who started with a 21-11 decision over Russell Juvan and Rustine Valina, had a longer route after dropping to the loser’s bracket. They squeezed out a 21-19 win over Knohlynn Gechig and Sabrina Pangelinan, scored an easy 21-5 victory against Emily Jones and Beryl Kohnen, before completing a 21-11 decision over Alegria and Iwan to move on to the finals. The champion pairs then teamed up with professional players in an exhibition match, which was still being played at press time. The 23rd Annual Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival continues next weekend with the Marianas Kids Cup U13 and U17 divisions. |
Junior Cup Activities on Saipan
Open blog post to see poster please! Feel free to download and distribute freely! Thank you for supporting youth beach volleyball in the CNMI!  |
Sablan, Vidal win Marianas: Willsey, Takashi take men's division crown
Reprinted from the Pacific Daily News at this link. |
NMIVA High School All Stars Program kicks off
 In an effort to increase our youth players’ exposure, NMI Volleyball is initiating an All‐Star High School Team program. Initially we will begin with one male team and one female team consisting of 30 players each. Not all players will necessarily be selected to attend or play in competitions. This privilege will be earned through hard work, dedication and commitment to the program. The All Stars teams will be selected from players who participated in the Marianas Interscholastic Sports Organization (MISO) league's most recent seasons (SY2014-15). Total number of players will be about 60-players. The recent MISO season champion teams will automatically be included and then MISO players will be recruited via nomination by their MISO coaches from each and every other team in the league. Fundamentally, NMIVA has worked with MISO for the past few years helping with its high school league program, which is inclusive of public and private schools. This program has steadily produced better and better players each season; as such it was recognized that the community was ready for next steps. MISO and NMIVA looked at it and identified two objectives. First, expand to junior high school and second create next tier competition opportunities. "We think that after this pilot season, we should have a better sense of the base of players that we have to work with and develop over the next 3-4 years. In a long-term vision, these players would either be heading to college with amazing volleyball skills or else continuing to represent a CNMI National Volleyball Team," offered Nick Gross, MISO director. Guam Volleyball Federation has invited the NMI Volleyball Association to enter teams in their high school championship tournament. The boys’ tournament will be May 29‐June 1, 2015 and the girls’ tournament will be in October (exact date to be determined), 2015. These will be the first competitions that the All-Stars teams will target. "We've had to look at the fact that our limited resources need to support the greatest return for the total growth of our sport. We are seeing our initial target population for off island competition is likely those 14-25 ages looking out over the next 5-10 years," said Laurie Peterka, president for NMIVA. "We've wanted to expand these opportunities for some time now, but we lacked volunteers or resources to help make additional programs possible. Now that we have Darcy and Codie to help Nick and I, we can push forward on our dreams of seeing competitive indoor continue both here and regionally; and eventually internationally. We have to take baby steps and build our capacity so that we have strong programs, dedicated players and a good shot at competing successfully in the regional and international arenas," said Peterka. Peterka further commented, "For resource support, we are applying to the Oceania Zonal Volleyball Association (OZVA) and Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC). We've also reached out to USA Volleyball, who helped by donating volleyballs and training videos." Darcy Wylie is a CNMI Public School System (PSS) school teacher who recently moved to Saipan from south Florida. She is a former volleyball player and a coach as well as an avid softball player. Darcy loves coaching and loves working with the youth. "I believe strongly in passion, dedication, sportsmanship and hustle," said Wylie. "I believe that hustle (synonymous with effort) is the foundation of a good team. Many shortcomings in the areas of skills and ability can be overcome with hustle and effort," Wylie explained. Wylie coached the MHS boys in their SY2014-15 season. She is currently working on developing opportunities to expand volleyball at the elementary level and quite willingly took up the lead role on helping to create the NMIVA All Stars program. Wylie additionally volunteered to become a board member for NMI Volleyball as of last November. Codie Sayles is a respiratory therapist at Commonwealth Health Care Corporation (CHC). She grew up playing volleyball, was on varsity all four years of high school and played two years at a community college in Northern California. After college she coached girls 16-18 traveling club volleyball team for 5 years. "I love coaching and can't wait to help with organizing and training the All Stars nominees and any other way that I can help with volleyball while I am here," said Sayles. "It's very exciting to see all the dots connecting and people stepping forward to help push NMI Volleyball to the next plateau!" stated Peterka and continued, "Sometimes its hard to be patient. There is this giant thing that has so many possibilities but we have to prioritize based on a grand vision and then have faith that all of the pieces will come together...again and again and again! I have the greatest confidence in the group who have taken on the next steps for expanding indoor volleyball programs in the NMI and will provide as much foundational support as I can." MISO coaches have been notified via email and asked to return their nomination forms. After receiving the nominations, NMIVA will contact the student athletes to inform them of their nomination, and schedule a players’ meeting. At that meeting, we will discuss player expectations, commitment, and responsibilities. Nomination deadline is February 28th, 2015. |
23rd Annual Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival
 Update as of Feb 24: Please take notice that the Kids Cup in Saipan will have two divisions 1) 17U and 2) 13U. Update as of Feb 22: Please take notice that the Kids Cups in both Guam and Saipan have been moved to SUNDAY March 15th. This year the Festival kicks off with the main event, the Marianas Pro-Am Cup, to be held on Guam at Ypao Beach Park. The event starts with a free clinic conducted by the pros at 4pm on February 26th. The clinic is open to all age groups to learn about the beach volleyball game. February 27th will feature an exhibition game between the pros from Japan and China beginning at 6pm. Immediately following the exhibition will be a raffle in which some lucky amateur players will win a chance to play in the tournament with one of our visiting pro players. The main tournament will start on February 28th with pool play. The top 16 teams will advance to the double elimination bracket on March 1st. “This is the biggest weekend of the year for our beach players from around the region,” stated Jon Cramer, VP for Guam Volleyball Federation. He continued, “It gives them a good test of where their skill level is against pros and top amateurs from the neighboring islands.” The Festival continues with the Marianas Junior Cup to be held at the Fiesta Resort & Spa on Saipan March 7th and 8th. The Junior Cup is for players 19 years old and under, with both men’s doubles and women’s doubles teams. March 7th will consist of pool play with the top 16 teams advancing to the double elimination bracket on March 8th. The final event is the Marianas Kids Cup to be held on March 14th in both Guam and Saipan. This event is a 4-person co-ed event for players aged 14 and under. The Kids Cup will begin with pool play in the morning followed by a double elimination bracket in the afternoon. Last year’s Kids’ Cup had 48 players on Guam and over 100 on Saipan. Cramer sums it up, “The whole three weekends are about having fun and growing the sport. Many players come for the friendships that have been developed at Cup over the years. In fact, there are always several combinations of teams of people from different countries.” Guam Volleyball Federation is encouraging young players from Guam to go and compete against the strong pool of players on Saipan. While NMI Volleyball Association is encouraging Saipan volleyball players to represent in the ProAm Cup. United Airlines is offering special rates for both Saipan players to attend the ProAm and the Guam players to attend the Junior Cup. Registration forms can found at St. John’s School Gym, Guam Volleyball Federation Facebook page, Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival Page, NMI Volleyball’s website www.nmivolleyball.org, or email guamvolleyball@gmail.com or nmivolleyball@gmail.com. Teams registering for the Pro-Am event must do so by 6pm, February 22nd. Teams that register by February 18th 6pm will receive a $20 discount. In Guam, please call Jon Cramer (727-4999) or Chris Shepherd (727-8443) for more information or in Saipan you can call Laurie Peterka (670) 483-7499. GVBF would like to thank our current platinum level sponsors – GVB, United Airlines, PIC Guam, and GHD. NMIVA would like to thank Saipan’s major sponsors – MVA, Fiesta Resort & Spa, DoCoMo Pacific and Practical Solutions LLC. There is always room for more sponsors, contact Jon Cramer or Laurie Peterka for more details on sponsorship packages. |
FIVB - VCP Teachers Training Course in March
 02/26/15 UPDATE: CNMI PSS has formally sanctioned this course for professional development hours! NMIVA has worked closely with MISO these past several years supporting and helping guide MISO's expansion of its volleyball program. As a result, we've seen increased volleyball interest at the elementary and junior high school grade levels. After meeting and discussing further growth and direction objectives with MISO, we asked the FIVB to approve bringing this course back to the CNMI. Ordinarily, national federations may qualify for VCP courses only once every two years. However, this will be the NMI's third consecutive year to be approved for a VCP certification course. Last year, NMIVA host an Indoor Referee Certification which saw 20 participants. In 2013, it was a Grassroots Beach Volleyball course. Prior to that in 2010, NMIVA hosted the Teachers Training course. In 2008, NMIVA hosted the Level I Coaches Training course. Consecutive approvals is a sign from the FIVB that it sees that our national federation is growing our sport rapidly. The Federation Internationale de Volleyball or FIVB (http://www.fivb.org/) is the world's governing body for the sport. It is the highest place of authority to reach for sanctioning of anything related to volleyball or beach volleyball in the world from the grassroots to the Olympic level. The VCP course we are hosting and its curriculum comes directly from their development office (http://www.fivb.org/EN/Development/Volleyball_Cooperation_Programme.asp). Course details can be found here: FIVB VCP Teacher's Training Course. Registration forms will be available here for download 1-week before the first day of class. BONUS: NMIVA will be offering the following incentives for teacher participation from each CNMI school. Maximum of 30 participants, public and/or private school teachers welcome. 1 school, 1 participant = will receive 2 volleyballs for their school 1 school, 2 participants = will receive 5 volleyballs for their school 1 school, Cool Volley Event w/NMIVA support = will receive 1 volleyball net for their school If you'd like to let us know that you are interested please click on GOING on our Facebook event page! You can also contact us at https://www.facebook.com/NMIVolleyball or training.programs@nmivolleyball.org |
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