PSS expands midseason sports to Tinian and Rota

Instead of only hosting Tinian and Rota teams during championship tournaments, the PSS Athletic Programs is expanding play to those islands—giving their high school athletes more game time and experience in three sports: volleyball, fastpitch softball, and basketball.

The PSS Athletic Programs and the NMI Volleyball Association wrapped up a three-day midseason girls high school volleyball tourney on Tinian yesterday morning, while Rota hosted its debut midseason boys fastpitch softball tourney from Sept. 18-20.

For volleyball, five teams—two from Tinian, two from Saipan, and one from Rota, duked it out in the whirlwind 3-day tournament at the sweltering hot public gym. On Saturday, Saipan Southern High School took the win against Tinian JV in two sets, 21-13, 21-18, while Rota’s Dr. Rita H. Inos High School duked it out and won over Tinian varsity in a three-set thriller, 20-22, 21-14, 15-11.

On Friday, SSHS went up against ACS and won, 21-18, 21-4; RHI won over Tinian JV, 21-16, 21-9; SSHS won their third game, this time over Tinian varsity, 22-20, 21-6; ACS took down RHI, 21-16, 21-14; and Tinian varsity beat sister JV team, 24-22, 21-9.

For the first day of games on Thursday, ACS opened it up with a two set win over Tinian JV, 21-9, 21-12; SSHS powered through in three tough sets against RHI, 18-21, 21-13, 15-12; and ACS defeated Tinian varsity, 21-8, 21-18.

Despite the heat and humidity, the girls competed with heart all three days.

In the softball tourney held on Rota, Kagman High School, Saipan International School, Tinian High School, and Dr. Rita H. Inos High School faced wet weather but managed to squeeze in games at the newly renovated Joaquin “Tun Kindo” M. Ogo Baseball Field.

PSS Athletic Programs director Nick Gross said these midseason tournaments are part of a larger effort to give Tinian and Rota athletes more opportunities to compete. “Being able to pull it off has certainly been a milestone for us and we’re hoping that we can continue to keep our funding leveraged in a way that we can continue to bring kids out,” he said. “And beyond the experiences that the kids get in being able to come out, it really is an opportunity to kind of give back to the economies of Tinian and Rota by bringing out these groups of nearly 50 people.”

Gross explained that funding comes from “some of the federal dollars that were intended to support these activities and were some rollover funds from the previous school year. And so we’re able to repurpose those dollars into making sure we’re bringing sports throughout the Marianas and making sure that Tinian and Rota are getting the opportunity to play-host these events in conjunction with the Athletic Programs and our national federation partners.”

For RHI’s junior and team captain Abcde Hocog, the tournament was a memorable experience. “It was really fun being in a new environment especially being on Tinian because in previous games we always played on Saipan and it’s something new. The competition was really good—it was really fun for us, we tried our best, but there’s still some stuff we need to work on.”

She added, “Since we’re from Rota, we’re not able to play against many schools since we only have one team. I feel like being able to play more gives us more experience especially hands on because we’re playing with new students we’re not used to yet and yeah, it’s just a good experience."

Tinian volleyball coach Brandon Santos, for his part shared, “This is the first experience for me and everyone else on our team to play at home and defend home court,” he said. “I think our students definitely have a more positive outlook when it comes to the games being here. I think just having the support from family and friends boost their confidence and engagement in the sport.”