GuahanNapu:RicksReefClassic

A total of 50 surfers and body-boarders braved waves that crested between 6 and 8 feet at Guahan Napu Inc.’s fourth annual Rick’s Reef Classic surfing and body boarding competition, presented by GTA TeleGuam and Bud Light yesterday.

The Men’s Long Board surfers’ maneuvering on and through the large waves, a condition not usually considered ideal for long board riding, thrilled the crowd at the Satpon Point overlook. The outcome saw first place go to veteran surfer Kenny Pier, 58. Following Pier were: 2nd place, Fred Mendiola; and 3rd place, Laurent Waimer.

In the Men’s Open Surfing division, the final saw Guam’s top four male surfers take on the large 8-foot sets and produced at first-time, first-place finish for Cheyne Purcell. Rounding out the top men’s surfers were: 2nd place, Derrick Ikehara, defending champion; and 3rd place, Joeito Santiago, inaugural Rick’s Reef Classic 2008 champion.

Other results

Men’s Body Boarding: 1st place, B.J. Rolinski; 2nd place, John Leon Guerrero; and 3rd place, Jay Benton.Prizes for the winners were provided by GTA TeleGuam, Bud Light, Proa Restaurant, Fokai Industries, DNA Evolution, Dickerson & Quinn, Warm Current of Osaka, Japan, and Dawn Patrol Industries. The event was also supported by the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort, the host venue of the annual event, and Foremost which supplied bottled water and Glaceau’s Vitamin Water to the athletes and officials. Dickerson & Quinn also donated a SPAM-branded surf board, shaped by Hironori Ishihara, owner of Warm Current surf boards, that was raffled at the event.

The Rick’s Reef Classic IV competition was the second in a series of qualifying tryout events for surfers and long board surfers who want to be considered for Guam’s surfing team at the 2011 Pacific Games in New Caledonia. Following this event, the top 10 point scorers from men’s surfing and top five long boarders advance to compete in additional qualifying events in late February and March.

According to Willi Byerly, president of Guahan Napu Inc., the next qualifying event for men’s surfing and long board surfing is tentatively set for Feb. 26 at the Hagåtña boat basin.

Information was provided in a press release

RestInPeace:ChrisBenavente

Paying homage and respect to a man who walked in the life of true spirit and trustfully now flies in the spirit of true life.

You presented a great example for GuamJiujitsu, In your case truly AFamily Thing. Our best regards to the Universe’s greatest instructor. Catch you on the other side.

Thanks Chris for all your support and a sincere applause for a short yet well-filled life. Our prayers and heart are with you and yours in your new journey.

Respect.

Fokai

http://www.facebook.com/#!/socauli

May 2, 1988 – January 16, 2011) Formerly of Pago Bay, Guam and residing in San Diego, California, was called home by our Heavenly Father at the age of 22 years. Nightly Rosary is being offered at St. Anthony Church in Tamuning at 6:30PM followed by a Mass. Last Respects for Christopher will be made on Friday, January 28, 2011 at St. Anthony Church, Tamuning from 9:30AM to 12:30PM. Mass of Christian burial will take place at 1:00PM and Interment will follow at Our Lady of Peace Memorial Gardens, Windward Hills, Yona.

ONRA:january13th,2010

Hafa adai.

It looks like the 155-pound title is up for grabs and that we will finally get to see the year’s anticipated bout where Roque Martinez gets to defend his PXC Heavyweight Championship title against Saipan’s Kelvin Fitial with Premeiere XTreme Combat 22 scheduled for next Friday

Purebred/Lloyd Irvin Guam is counting at least 14 students that will be competing in the Pan American Juvenile Brazilian Jiujitsu Championships on Feb. 20.

Although UFC and Strikeforce veterans are nothing new to the island, the island of Guam is proud to have hosted part of the Fighters For Fighters Tour that took place at the .Charles King Fitness Center at Naval Base Guam and at the Coral Reef Fitness Center at Andersen Air Force Base

Though the seminars may have been tailored for members of the armed forces, with a few days on our 32-mile long island, it was inevitable that our traveling visitors would cross paths with some of our many fighting islanders.

It’s pretty amazing how the sport and pursuit of knowledge in martial arts and professional fighting has forged significant alliances between our local athletes and those from far away places. It seems that Guam’s outreach in competitive world martial arts has created many icebreakers with traveling professionals, visiting instructors, and aspiring students to provide a healthy exchange of information and fruitful ground between backgrounds of different ethnicities, genders and ages.

Keeping everything in sight for 2011 — one topic of note is: What role will martial arts and mixed martial arts play in the figurative screenplay of the military buildup?

With 10,000-plus Marines chased out of Okinawa, trained to kill, and in every situation ready for battle, already, without ever meeting them many of us, have established our own personal reserves of what we will be dealing with.

Should we be anticipating violence, the rape of our women and the pillage of our land? Should we envision hostile encounters and disoriented, drunken troublemakers carving the path for the disintegration of our home and paradise, not because of ethnic reservations, but due, in large, to repeated testimonies from Okinawans that gave them reason to invest billions of dollars in this relocation?

The reality of it is that though as Marines, our soldiers are empowered as moving weapons — however they will find that any percieved passivity is surely not to be mistakened for weakness. Skilled fighters are easier to be found on the island these days but it isn’t the martial arts fist that will serve us best here as much it will be the martial arts mind.

 Of course Guam martial arts isn’t aspiring to be the golden savior or the only solution but, at best, we definitely don’t want to be a part of the problem. 

 With this buildup, we have every reason to be enraged, to feel disrespected. We are being told what to do in our own house and there seems to be little that we can do to effectively motivate otherwise. We have to accept the fact that the Marines are coming and with them thousands will follow family and chasers of opportunity. Though the battle to keep them out has been lost, a new challenge has presented itself for us to be on top of this situation, to not only see this for what it is negatively, but for what it can be positively. 

 Incorporating martial arts into the military buildup equation is above the details of how will our academies make money more money? It’s beyond the techniques we might use to defeat them in a fight. And it’s so much more than how many more shirts or tickets we might sell with the potential of a fluorishing industry. 

 It’s really about incorporating the etiquette of martial arts, the spirit of athletics, and the military code of conduct to work effortlessly towards some type of harmony between the irresistible force and the immovable object so that in the beginning and end of it all we move forward shapeless and conforming with the home-court advantage to enter every opportunity towards positivity and yet be powerful and transparent for mutual clarity and perspective-appreciation; to find a way at best … to be like water.

Easier said than done but hopefully forever trying …

Thanks for dropping by.

Roman Dela Cruz is a mixed martial arts super-fan, and a representative for Fury MMA

RespectTheWater

Guam loses far more people to rough surf on sunny days than it does to typhoons because, while some people respect the danger of storms, they discount the power of waves.

That’s what meteorologist Chip Guard said Thursday while explaining why beachgoers, paddlers, snorkelers and surfers should pay close attention to high surf advisories issued by the National Weather Service.

The advisories provide information that can help residents by showing them which beaches are safe, or what time of day will be calmer, Guard said. And sometimes, even on a beautiful day, the advisories will convince you it’s best to stay out of the water completely, Guard said.

“In these kind of situations, you only need to be wrong once,” Guard said. “You might go out there a lot, and survive every time, … but the wave only has to be successful once.”

Last weekend, Guam lost two paddlers — 18-year-old Ryan Cepeda and 21-year-old Kayleen Mendiola — when their outrigger canoe was overturned by powerful waves in Tumon Bay.

The rough seas had prompted the Weather Service to issue a high surf advisory that weekend. That advisory has since ended, but it won’t be long before dangerous conditions prompt another one, Guard said.

Weather Service senior forecaster Carl McElroy said he saw the powerful waves that pounded Guam’s coast last weekend. Many people don’t realize what a wave like that can do, he said.

“My first thought was: ‘Wow,’” McElroy said. “My second thought was fear. It’s terrifying to try and confront something like that.”

A 6-inch wave, moving at 30 mph, can knock a man off his feet, and an 18-inch wave can drag a car, McElroy said on Thursday.

For the Weather Service to issue a surf advisory, waves must have reached at least 9 feet on most beaches, or 12 feet on east coast beaches, McElroy said.

“At that point, you’re a cork in a big stream,” McElroy said. “You are not going to stop it from flinging you where it wants to go. People don’t realize that water is very heavy.”

A cubic meter of water weighs a metric ton, he said.

Rip currents

The powerful force of the waves pounding inward isn’t the only danger during a high surf advisory. Every drop of water that sloshes over the reef line has to retreat back to the ocean, and channels in the reef are the only way out.

“In the channel, the current is going out toward the ocean. The waves are breaking over the reef, and that’s dumping tons of water over the reef flat,” Guard said. “And that water has to go somewhere, so it goes back out through those channels, and those are the rip currents.”

Rip currents have enough force to tire swimmers and drag them outward — or downward — where swimmers could drown in deeper water, Guard explained.

A swimmer who is pulled out through a channel by a rip current could also be returned to the churning waves and be tossed back onto the hard, sharp reef, he said.

“The more water that comes over, the more water that has to drain out,” Guard said. “The more water that goes out, the stronger the currents are going to be. And when the currents are so strong, you are not going to be able to paddle against it or swim against it.”

In some reef channels, even small motorboats can struggle to fight the current, Guard said, so a surfer, paddler or swimmer can be overcome easily.

Roger Edson, a Weather Service science and operating officer, has been that swimmer — unable to get to shore, afraid to be swept away.

Years ago, Edson was snorkeling off the coast near Lost Pond when he got caught in a rip current only a few yards from the land. He was unable to gain ground against the current, so he clung to a rock and waited until a large wave tossed him to safety.

“It was scary as could be,” Edson said. “It was 1982 and I remember it like yesterday.”
Tumon Bay

Another one of those reef channels sits in Tumon Bay, about 10 yards offshore from the Hyatt Hotel, said Frank San Nicolas, a lifeguard instructor with two decades of experience.

San Nicolas said that channel factored into the paddling accident on Sunday. Lifeguards told paddlers to stay out of the rough waters, San Nicolas said, “but you can’t stop everyone.”

San Nicolas said he supports keeping paddlers and other beachgoers out of the water during high-surf conditions, but lifeguards need more authority to ensure sure this happens.

Many beachgoers just don’t listen, he said.

This paddling tragedy has brought more awareness to the rough surf, San Nicolas said, so swimmers might pay closer attention to lifeguards’ instructions for a while, but it won’t last forever, San Nicolas said.

Eventually, the lessons will fade, and the dangerous channel will remain.

“I hate to sound pessimistic, but I’ve been doing this for so long,” San Nicolas said. “These things happen. Snap decisions are made. … Once the surf goes down, … it just goes back to normal.”

FokaiJapan&K-1Dynamite:ThankYouKiyotaro!

Kiyotaro supports Fokai in his kickboxing bout against.GegardMousasi in K-1Dynamite on NewYwearsEve of 2011 in Japan.

FokaiSaipan:JUSTADDWATER

JoseQuantestrunning FokaiQuickdries@the 6-7-OYah!

ONRA:2010YearInReview

Hafa Adai,

In what seems for some to be the blink of an eye—another 365days have passed and its about that time for Our 2010year in review. Without any detailed specifics–Marianas Combat Sports this year has ventured far throughout HongKong, Korea,the Philippines, Japan, Hawaii, andTaiwan. Our local fighter-athletes even went to Moscow and to a new territory in World MMA-the Emirates; our combat-sports related industry also ventured into AbuDhabi, Ireland and England to raise our flag and in the process salute one of our locally branded labels , Shoyoroll Brand, soaring abroad to emerge as one of the world’s top Jiujitsu kimono manufacturers.

Opportunity knocks on the doors via our armed forces as Guam’s momentum in competitive martial arts have been successful in placing our local Modern ArmyCombatives Program into good position as our soldiers and airmen continue to do extremely well in National Competition. Women are climbing the ranks of local BJJ as Our female consistent turnout and evolving performance in Jiujitsu and Grappling competition surely makes for future extended conversation. We’re also at a tremendous growth in youth BJJ with our youth competitions remain well stacked. Lets cross our fingers for a good turnout as several of our familiar names in the MarianasOpen have set their target for first ever PanAmerican Juvenile BrazilianJiujitsu Championships on February 20th.

Tinian has joined the race of competitive local Mixed Martial Arts while the sophistication of Saipan combat sports has kept the CNMI on board for community development dressed in combat-competitive purpose.

GuamBJJ earns a new black belt in local MMA pioneer John Calvo. BJJ BlackBelts Terrence Aflague and Stephen Roberto have received their official black belt cards from the International Brazilian Jiujitsu Federation and the Confederation of Brazilian Jiujitsu.
Guam sees two new recognizable forces in the grappling arts with the Barrigada Submission Center and The newly formed UniversalAlliance. As our grapplers abroad proceeded to collect silver and gold in events across the USMainland. Fequent visits and guest instruction from BJJWorld Champion visitors accentuated Guam’s grappling progress as our performances in Japan continue to certify GuamBJJ as true contenders in the land of the Samurai and beyond. Though on paper we didn’t seem as successful in Japan with MMA—Opportunities continue to grow for our islands participation overseas as contacts in the Emirates, US Mainland, and countries throughout Asia continue to knock on the doors of Guam’s Mixed Martial Arts top contenders.

Props and respect to the organizers of PremiereXTremeCombat as Guam professionalMMA has endured the detours in place by the newly formed yet-questionable GuamUnarmed CombatSports Commision. Without experience or substance– Curiosities and small frustrations continue to loom over a the credibility of a governing body created to further regulate and supposedly-service our professional combat sports ventures. Respect and Gratitude goes for the organizers of the very successful CopaDeMarianas and Marianas Open for providing our thriving grappling community with a viable structure to give us another amateurcombat option outside of MMA.

Though MMA promotions seem to have declined a bit in Japan—World MMA seems more successful than ever. With its escape of its image of exotic bloodsport, Mixed martial arts has gelled well into international athletics in aroad that confidently is destined to surpass,by far ,Professsional Boxing if not already. Dana White, President of the UFC has on more-than-one occasion mentioned that Mixed Martial Arts will be the biggest sport in the world. Although event the greatest of MMA fans might disagree—it is more than certain that the UFC is doing such a great job of gift wrapping MMA and giving to the world–the modern sport of gladiators–that Santa himself would be proud.
James Toney vs. Randy Cotoure! How about that?. Great to see the great ProfessionalBoxing vs.MMA question answered by the hands of such icons, but still it would’ve been better to see that same fight ten years ago…With its official merger awith WorldExtremeCombat , while Filling arenas and gathering tens of millions of pay-per –view purchases from around the world– it seems that the UFC , in every aspect ,is stronger than ever. However none can argue the validity of Strikeforce’s Heavyweight Division — accumulated in large, by the hands of the StrikeForce Matchmaker and proudly one of our local sons, Richard Chou.

Inside of these two, the largest MMA events in the world to date– the planet over was in near disbelief as some of our MMA superheros tasted defeat such as BJPenns two-time decision loss to Frankie Edgar at 155punds , Anderson Silva’s near dethroning at the hands of ChaelSonnen, the annihilation of the seemingly indestructible juggernaut BrockLesnar , and painstakingly, EmelianenkoFedor ’s mortalization after his first-ever submission defeat to Fabricio Verdum,

Guam’s Martial Arts cultivation has been driven by so many independent forces and in so many different ways.

What is key, what was key, and what always will be key is that we all work progressively and hopefully collectively to evolve and improve our combat sports atmosphere.

Will This sport and lifestyle’s conscious connection to our island’s concerns help us to answer the call of duty for everyone to help in addressing concerns facing Guam in 2011? in 2012? In 2013? What will we be able to say of Guam Martial Arts in 2020?

Countless episodes of Financial assistance, fan support, full-houses and standing ovations
have offered the obvious and very valuable attention of our extended community. It goes without saying that This sport and industry is at its best interest to return the embrace of our island for 14 years and going.

But as far as we’ve come—were still yet to activate powerful elements that will eventually serve as the catalyst for paramount landmarking of our fighting islander’s sacrifices and efforts. International word speaks of Brazilian Jijuitsu’s aim to become an Olympic Sport as well as submission grappling hoping to do the same. Surely there is much to be learned from and maybe even gained from larger organizations like the he Guam National Olympic Organization and/ or the GuamVisitorsBureau. Time, effort, and communication will surely tell.

Obvious obvious obvious it is that the sport of MMA is pushing combative sciences into new levels around the globe. However–Hopefully, in 2011, in between the lines of our flying armbars , superman punches, and double legtakedowns, we set sail positive percussions to break far beyond the ambitions of a full to capacity University of Guam Fieldhouse, beyond the coated fencing of the eight sides of the octagon, with the code and etiquette learned from the tatami mats — to approach the years ahead respectfully and to commit to a positive direction for the unbelievable local talent we will most definitely find in the years to come.

Thanks for dropping by.

CharlesRapadasProduction:Zach Rapadas Gracie Barra Tournament

Fokai Familia’s ZachRapadas in Preparation and Performance

Fokai:Sinceeversince

Biggest swell to hit Guam in years is enroute for Sunday .ExhaustTheBody.ProceedTheMind.CultivateTheSpirit.

FokaiAmphibiousDivision:JUST ADD WATER

Fokai Spotted:Rudy Rapadas&Troy Mesa

http://www.kuam.com/story/13747535/2010/12/28/guam-shooting-federation-holds-competition

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