ONRA:May20th,2010

Hafa Adai,

Guam grapplers recover from another successful Marianas Open on May 8^th as Saipan Welcomes Korea back to Mariana Islands MMA with their triple main event for Korea vs. The Marianas inTrenchWarz12:BattleBrawl at the Saipan World Resort this Friday May21st.

While on the same day  a host of MMA fighter athletes and Jiujitsu Instructors from the Pound, Spike22Academy, CarlsonGracieGuam, and the Guahan Top Team place the backdrop of a youth outreach program to host a brief Brazilian Jiujitsu and Submission Grappling instructional for the 2^nd Annual JourneyTo TheWorlds YouthActivities Exhibition 2010 from 11am to 4pm at the Dededo Sports Complex this weekend.

“Tsumayooshi”—to us it might sound like a strange word but its actually the Japanese translation for the word “toothpick”. I guess theres more than one way to communicate An idea.

I’d like to offer any due apologies to anyone who might have felt disrespected from a statement I made in the most previous ONRA that the last PXC was a stain for Guam MMA.

I think I could have chosen my words more carefully and I may have let my often-unprofessional opinion get in the way of courtesy. Many people—the promoters, the commission, the staff, the fighters, and fans put their time aside in hopes for a flourishing event; And for all the hard work and commitment to consistently reinvite this development in athletics and entertainment should not go unsaluted. Afterall Korea is reminded that GuamMMA is real and the commision made a respectable showing with a sizeable staff uniformed not just iwithclothing but apparentlywith  intention.

In reality, there are so many dynamics involved with Guam Combatives that we all have different ways to do our part for what we feel might be productive for a lifestyle, sport, and industry that we hope to be around extensively.. Beit in the now-quite-different BJJ scene, or high school wrestling, Olympic Judo, —these all seem to work with a mutual benefit in what could be our greatest world athetic potential—competitiveMartial Arts.

We are fortunate to see the extents that industry and athletic venture capitalists are going to in implementing Martial Arts as a staple and finding a way to weave it into our extended life experiences. We have seen public-speaking, event-fundraising, large scale entertaining, fitness-enhancing, world-traveling, and landmarking episodes in what seemed to start In the early days as the pursuit of reliable self-defense.

Heres a question—Is Martial Arts the same as Mixed Martial Arts? You know, previously we could have so easily said yes but we have to realize that both are no longer necessarily practiced with the same core-philosophies. Though Martial Arts can arguably be labeld the bigger umbrella of the two.. They have, these days, seemed to have grown in a different light.

One might say that martial arts is the philosophy of defense and that Mixed Martial Arts is the philosophy of offense; another might say that Martial Arts Code of Honor is replaced in MMA with a code of victory.

So , after figuring out what those differences might bethen we might also want to ask ourselves “Which philosophy do we want to move forward with?”

When looking at the very real and very proficient fight-athletic abilities that our young are achieving so early in life—we really need to pay attention to where were going with this and we really need to pay attention for the direction we might want to steer them.. The popularity of televised MMA, Video-games, Youtube, celebrity endorsement, the fighter intraining who might not stay too far away from home…It is inevitable that many of our youth will gravitate towards the pursuit of success in this arena.

So maybe, it might be beyond our control that many will naturally gravitate toward MMA, but we are blessed with the ability ( and different methods) to enhance the Martial Arts and Mixed Martial Arts  product so that we can move confidently knowing that people gravitate towards a positive thing, plan with a positive perspective, and aim for a positive direction.

Not everyone is into competitive Martial Arts to save the world (so to speak). Not everyone is in for the glorification of our islands.  sometimes people just want to compete or sometimes people just see it as a way of having fun. Fine, dandy, and well-respected.

But for those who might be in it for any type of bigger purpose—it is sure to be a blessing for an island that works diligently to enforce, enhance, and encourage a positive and formidable framework for this bigger picture; In  what can be for many—a world and host, not of caution; but a world and host of opportunity.

Thanks for dropping by.