Hold Your Ground. Defend Your Goal. Defend Your Health!
This week, we had a special lesson from the NMIFA’s Healthy Play, Healthy Lives initiative! Our coaches shared an important life skill of resisting peer pressure and how this looks like in real life and on the field.
On the field, players practiced defensive positioning by protecting their space, communicating with teammates, and learning how to stop opponents without losing their position.
Off the field, we connected those same ideas to resisting peer pressure. Just like defenders do not let opponents push past them, young athletes do not let peer pressure push them to make harmful choices like alcohol, marijuana, and other substances.
Players learned that real strength means knowing your boundaries, making healthy decisions, and asking for support when you need it.
Because champions choose Healthy Play, Healthy Lives! 
____
The Play Smart, Live Strong initiative by the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association empowers our youth to make healthy choices on and off the field. Together with the Saipan Soccer School After School Program, we are using the power of soccer to promote substance-free lifestyles and reduce the risk factors related to underage drinking and marijuana use.
Every week we will share about our practical lessons, group discussion highlights, and soccer skills we learned to support our players as they Play Smart, Live Strong!
