failures are important lessons on how to take pride in one’s triumphs, how to be graceful in defeat, and how to be magnanimous in victory. Proper parenting can only do so much and it is in being involved in sports that lessons such as these are effectively driven to the point without having to nag. Whether intended or not, these future faces of CNMI sports are outstanding models for their peers and their individual victories make for a compelling case why children should be exposed to sports as early as possible—to give them a head start on what it means to live healthy, positive, and uplifting lives.
Top, from left to right, Kaito, Ryuto, and Hiroto Yanai, and Angel De Jesus join, bottom from left to right, Michael Mancao, Rafael Jones, Ian Rogolifoi, Rachel Abrams, Tammy Ackerman, Jeraldine Castillo, CJ Morales, Mark Venus, Erico Castro, Shane Alvarez, Raphael Zapanta, and Jehn Joyner for a group photo at the IT&E playground at Pakpak Beach Park in San Antonio.
JESSIE PAGSINOHIN
recurrent theme during this magazine’s interviews with them. Engaging in any sporting activity teaches children not only how to play but also about how to live balanced lives, take responsibility for one’s actions, how to prioritize and to budget one’s time, and other life skills that would later help them when they go out into the rough and tumble world of real life. They play hard but they also study hard, very much aware of the rule that academics must come first before anything else. Their early accomplishments are also valuable markers for their growth as individuals and their successes and