Strength & Honor: RIP. Rayn San Nicolas

from Guampdn.com

Rayn San Nicolas helped save two of his cousins on Saturday, before succumbing to the waves himself.

The mother and a sister of the 14-year-old who drowned Saturday afternoon at Ritidian Point in Yigo are proud of the teen who, even in the face of danger, thought of helping others before himself.

Rayn San Nicolas was the only one of four swimmers who didn’t make it back to shore after struggling in the waters off Ritidian during a family picnic Saturday afternoon.

“He helped our younger cousin first, then helped our older cousin,” said Naomi San Nicolas, Rayn San Nicolas’ sister. “I think that’s why he didn’t make it in, because he was tired.”

The other boys who were in the water talked about how Rayn San Nicolas saved them from being swept out, according to the San Nicolas family.

“He was able to do that before he was swept away,” said the teen’s mother, Monica Flores San Nicolas, crying.

Monica San Nicolas remembers her son as “a very good, very loving and very respectful boy.”

The teen was an honor student, excelled in sports and volunteered at his church. He was about to start his freshman year in high school.

On Saturday, rescue officials received a 911 call for distressed swimmers at 2:42 p.m., according to the Guam Fire Department. Four swimmers, one of whom was Rayn San Nicolas, were struggling in the water. The other three made it back to shore.

Rayn San Nicolas went missing in the rough waters at Ritidian Saturday. Divers found him almost two hours after a search-and-rescue operation began. He’s the seventh water-related death on Guam this year.

Rosary services start today at St. Anthony’s Church in Tamuning.

The teen was looking forward to starting high school in the fall at Father Duenas Memorial High School, with his 15th birthday just around the corner in September.
Left his mark

He had just completed eighth-grade at St. Anthony Catholic School and left his mark there, according to his sister, Naomi San Nicolas.

“He played sports and excelled in all that he did — soccer, cross country and volleyball,” she said. “He was an honor student at St. Anthony and was inducted into National Junior Honor Society.”

Monica San Nicolas said her son also played soccer for the Guam National Team and made Top 10 in the middle school All Island Cross Country Competition last school year. He also was active in the community, waking up early to handle the projector for the 6 a.m. Mass at St. Anthony Church.

“He always talked to us about everything that interested him, from skateboarding to sports to school — everything,” Monica San Nicolas said. “He was such a good boy.”

“He was such a compassionate person that he risked his own life for the lives of his cousins,” his older sister added.

Fokai Ireland: The Grasshopper

Skimming through the pages of things Fokai IReland 2011:
Tony Susuico has done some tremendous things with Fokai and gellign it with the good people and great land of Ireland. Fokai is proud and honored to have areal place within the spirit of a people that although relatively, low in numbers, have made a tremendous impact throughout the history of our planet. Lean ar aghaidh, Erin go brah–these words in many ways echo the mantra of our small but very real movement.
Following is just a brief look at a few things of what happens with Fokai Ireland–with the GrasshopperLounge at its epicenter…GoodVibrations for sure.

ForLife: God & His Mysterious Ways

So I was scheduled for a trip to Ireland on June 18th but had decided to stick around on Guam a couple of extra days to catch a very rare summer west swell on Guam. Not only was I lucky enough to catch 3days of some pretty good surf with video to prove. In between that while checking the waves of a highly favored StandUpPaddle Spot, I ran into a lady with her dog who looked to be really taking in the view while walking the beach. After extending a friendly Hafa Adai and brief conversation-she continued on her way. I noticed the waves were good and had begun to rush back to my vehicle to make an immediate go for the waves when that same lady offered 20dollars for a ride to the airport.( which was just 7minutes away)

Though I was in a rush to surf, I gladly declined the 20dollars and decided to drive the lady to the airport for what I thought was supposed to be the beginning of a brief vacation. As it turned out she had just been visitng Guam to say a final goodbye to her old friends who had been on their death beds and fell in love with the island so her two weeks in Guam turned into 10months. The conversatiosurprising ly unfolded that she was on a 3month tour throughout the Continental United States. After her lifetime of travel she had wanted to close this last leg before she died…which turned out o be scheduled by a doctor for around early October…Just over 3months away.

It didn’t take long to realize that, even at only 54years old, she was dying and wanted to give life and living another chance. Even on her last legs, She was set out to do what she always wanted to do in life and wanted to go out gloriously. Within that 6minute conversation on the beach and that 7minute ride to the airport—it only took 12minutes to speak of world travel, life lessons, and faith in the man upstairs and to share a big hug that would make somebody think we were old friends. Upon our final goodbye she read a sticker on the vehicle window tha read “GoodVibrations” …and her last words to me were “Is that the best way to get a hold of you?” As I could see that she had no tiome for formalities and wanted to be on her way, I answered back “Yes..just send it out to the Universe and I’ll find a way to catch it. ”

Just a few days ago and I guess I already did.

My new date to leave for Ireland was scheduled for June 21st. Deciding to go for a bicycle workout just an hour and a half before heading to the airport—I ended up crashing into a pile of broken glass and metal on the last 3minutes of the workout, with lacerations next to my eye, my shoulder and a totally gnarly gash on my pinky. Needing to go for stitches—I had to postpone my flight to the next day. Travelers relying on airline space-availability are at the mercy of what we call “theStargates”. If I had traveled on the 21st, I would’ve made as far as to Newark but would’ve been turned around at the gate to Ireland because the plane was full and would’ve joined the rest of the Stargaters on areroute to Canada. Well as it turns out traveling on the 22nd instead was a better choice. So here I am on the plane..on my way to Ireland..on deck to catch The UK/Ireland BJJ Championships today and the ASkate event tomorrow—because I wanted to surf and because I got into a bike crash—thinking profoundly of how God does work in mysterious ways.

As for the lady with the dog—I never did get her name. Or if I did I forgot it. All I can recall is that her dog’s name was “Daisy”. Well she’s on her journey now, best friend by her side,and hoping and trusting that on this journey—in his often mysterious ways, God will do similar for her.

GoodVibrations for Life and Living.

Fokai Amphibious Division & Heritage

Just Adding Water to pay respect to those that came before us. Thanking the man upstairs for this WayOfLife

Onra: June 14th, 2012

Hafa Adai,
Congratulations to Robert Maloney for Gold and Mike Carbullido for Bronze for the medals and achievement at the Brazilian Jiujitsu World Championships in California . It’s good to see that , even as former residents, our islanders are arriving in increasing numbers and from every angle to reiterate Guam’s commitment to Competitive Jiujitsu.
Already near the top tiers of Strikeforces lightweight division –Good Luck to Joe Duarte who will be facing Ryan Cotoure on July 14th in Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy, at the Rose Center in Portland, Oregon
Spike22’s Robert Washington fights Richard Clementi in the main event of the Rogue Warrior Championships fight card to take place at the Cannery Casino in Las Vegas on June 16.
Grapplers stay ready—the CopaDe Marianas Adults no-gi grappling tournament is locked in for June 30th at the Phoenix Center.
It’s a bit far stretched to call boxing a martial art but none can argue that it truly is fighting sport. What might look to some like a face punching challenge—extended observation can easily reveal that boxing truly is “a sweet science”. In the unofficial race between the increasing popularization of MMA and boxing’s dwindling fan base– Professional boxing took a big hit below the belt with Manny Pacquiao’s extremely controversial loss to Timothy Bradley last weekend.
Hordes of Pacquiao (and Bradley) fans around the world are publicly disgusted in a judges decision that has been popularly marked as “the most disgusting call in the history of Professional Boxing.”
In between the lines of all theTweets, Status Updates, instagram photos, and celebrity blurbs condemning the Nevada State Athletics Commision ruling the bout in favor of Manley —the controversial call has also been considered “another great day for the UFC”.
There have been a number of highly publicized inconsistencies between boxers and boxing-industry players and their respective mixed martial arts counterparts. And anxieties continue among promoters in the industries as the UFC viewership grows destined to (if not already ) surpass that of boxing.
Boxing vs. MMA years ago took center stage as James Toney challenged MMA icon Randy Cotoure—though both were often cited as being past their prime…Cotoure easily and quickly dismantled a highly self-promoted James Toney in a bout that opened the eyes of boxing fans around the world to the obvious fact that MMA competitors are dangerous and are to be taken seriously.
For the highly uninformed, part-time boxing fans—it seems that Boxing’s attraction has been highly anchored down by two bigger names.–Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. On one hand you have a guy who has desecrated the sport of boxing in a lot of his self-promoting antics and questionable conduct on the other you have one that has been desecrated by the sport of boxing in last weeks decision loss than has also been considered a ploy to produce larger ticket sales and pay-per views for a rematch set in November.
Though many people felt that Pac-Man could’ve fought a much better fight—hard evidence tells the tale that there was no way that Timothy Bradley won that fight.
Is it more upsetting that a decision was fixed or is it more upsetting that a legend has been dethroned?
As much as we might believe in the increasing level of fighters, theres a part of all of us that would like there to be an absolutely unbeatable champion. It provides us with stability, with confidence, and keeps us in pure awe of skill and talent. Especially if its someone we can identify with—we’d love to believe that there is a way to become an irresistible force and/or an immovable object. There’s apart in many of us wants to believe in hidden training secrets that can put us above the rest. Unfortunately the reality is that there isn’t.
Talent, genetics, preparation—these are all extremely important ingredients for a Recipe of success but just like a man cant make fried rice without rice—these ingredients only take shape when bundled with desire.
There is an old poster about a hummingbird I can recall reading some20years ago. It said something along the lines of ”According to science, a hummingbird’s wings do not have the shape and capacity to send the weight of a hummingbird into flight—but the Hummingbird doesn’t know this so he goes ahead and flies anyway.” That’s some remarkable stuff and though im not sure if its accurate—its certainly good to hear because it gives us hope that no matter how the odds might be against us…where there’s a will there most certainly is a way and in that we are all at some point capable of defying all odds to even defy mathematics itself—to become champions.
In total respect for the millions of viewers around the world that felt Pacquiao won that fight—We still gotta give Bradley some props for some good boxing and for fighting a fight convincing enough to, in some eyes(even if just 2 or 3), dethrone an absolute beast of a competitor.
Along with that, even more respect for Pacquiao for being so gracious in this very questionable defeat. Hopefully that act in itself will help bridge the gap from boxing to its millions of fans who are at this time ashamed for the violation of the integrity of a sport that they might have held so valuable.
You win some, you lose some; People make mistakes and Flagrant calls happen—unfortunately, in front of a watching world, it happened to what seems like a real prize of a Champion. For Manny Pacquiao–No love lost, none whatsoever—Long live fight sport and good job PacMan.
Thanks for dropping by.

Fokai Combat Unit: SPK22

Spike22 is Guam’s proven premier Mixed Martial Arts Center. Here is a Video compilation of Spike 22s expanding Jiujitsu Program that we borrowed from Facebook and Vimeo and via BVILLION Brand.

da boyz – spkguam from BVLLION on Vimeo.

da boyz – spkguam from BVLLION on Vimeo.

Product Development: Grasshopper Village Beans

A 5minute and 20second video Preparing the first run of sample gifts for some of the best coffee in Micronesia. nothing really too exciting. just keeping the window open to the development of a top quality product in its course to help people.

Fokai: Giving Dem Some Way

ABootleg Fokai/Music Video with Damian Marley. We dont know him but we totally dig this song and his music. Ya’Mon!

A Thousand Words: Ground Fu

sinceeversince. Just dropping a not too far back photo taken from the walls of theGroundFu training center in Yona. circa 2007.  Lots of good times in this place and a whole lot of Mixed Martial Arts talent for sure.  For those that are in the know- athousand words at the very least.

From the Heart

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