FokaiAmphibiousDivision:FredMendiola

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AmphibiousDivision:Rick’sClassicAndOurChilgrens

Mendiola, Gogue win Rick’s Reef surfing titles

By Martin J. Dugan • Pacific Daily News • March 16, 2010

The third annual Rick’s Reef Classic surfing and body-boarding competition, co-sponsored by GTA TeleGuam and Bud Light and organized by the nonprofit organization Guahan Napu Inc., wrapped up Sunday after two days of competition.

Mae Mendiola and Jared Brandon Gogue were crowned the women’s open and kids’/grommet surfing champions, respectively.

Saturday’s men’s open and body-boarding competitions saw big, difficult conditions at Satpon point, better known as Rick’s Reef, near the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort. Wave sizes ranged from 4 to 6 feet with occasional bigger swells.

Kenny Pier, one of the men’s open surfing competitors, described the challenge of the situation.

“It was tough out there — especially when the tide started to drop and you couldn’t see how shallow it was because of the amount of water moving across the reef. It’s a matter of having the right tactics in these conditions,” said Pier.

Women’s open and grommet categories were carried over to Sunday due to Saturday’s high surf.

The results were as follows:

ONRA:InTheWordsOfFrankCamacho

Hafa Adai,

It is very unfortunate that Kelvin and Maitai were arrested last week. I know Kelvin and Maitai personally and they are very cool dudes. They love the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and most importantly they represent themselves, their family, and the Marianas EVERYTIME they step in the cage/octagon in domestic & internationally competitions and they do so well in the sport. Because of the bad decision they made, they must accept full responsibility for their actions, especially being house hold names in the Marianas Mixed Martial Arts scene. I’m saddened to see island headline fighters choose this road. Mixed Martial Arts is not and should not be held responsible for the decisions they made, if anything MMA kept them off the streets and in the gym.

Toby Maguire said it best in Spiderman the movie, “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.” As a professional MMA Fighter you are already branded as a “violent trouble maker.” That is not the case at all! My first perception of MMA was two tough steroidal men viciously beating each other till someone gave up.  I’ve grown and come to realize that Mixed Martial Arts would be a way to find peace of mind. I was astonished as to how much discipline, respect, honor, and camaraderie flowed through the Mixed Martial Arts gym. It amazed me how I could learn discipline, respect, honor, camaraderie, humility, self defense, martial arts techniques, and live a healthy lifestyle all at the same time. It was then, that I got hooked!

Mixed Martial Arts has not just been something great that has happened to me. I do believe that it is a blessing not only for me, but for the CNMI as well.  I have learned many of the fundamental values of MMA like discipline and respect. This helped me change my lifestyle for the betterment of my self-being. Through MMA I’m a 100%, Go Hard, goal oriented person. Set your goals high, and don’t let anyone or anything stop you or slow you down from reaching your goal. Becoming in shape and knowing that I could defend myself was definitely a self-esteem and confidence boost. MMA has kept me off the streets and in the gym. Looking back at it now, I have NO IDEA what I would have been doing if I wasn’t at the gym training. Driving around with friends? Going into abandoned buildings and hanging out for the fun of it? Go and get some beers? Party? Thank goodness I found the Trench Tech gym for me use up all my teenage energy! It definitely kept me occupied and out of trouble, that’s for sure!

Mixed Martial Arts has also helped me help others. It has given me the opportunity to be a role model for our youth and tell them that it is ok to dream big, it’s ok to set goals higher than your standards, in that they can accomplish anything they put their minds, hearts, and souls into. MMA has given me the opportunity to show the entire world where I’ve come from, who Chamorros are, and where this little island is located on the globe. An ideal example of what a combat sport can do for people is Manny Pacquiao. The province he is from is benefiting so much from him. The man is a Hero! Manny Pacquiao is a blessing to the PI. He stands as a role model not only in the home front, but on a global scale.

Hear me out fellow MMA fighters and combat competitors! Here is my take on street fighting… Well, I really don’t have a say in street fighting because I’ve never been in one. I think the number one cause of street fights is EGO! Yup, EGO is something you got to watch out for if you are a mixed martial artist/combat athlete. Ego will sneak up on you (trust me… It has on me), and you will make bad decisions based on EGO. In my personal experiences you can’t have EGO training full time at a gym. If you do have a big ego and do train, you won’t last in the sport. TRUST ME! You will always get beat, and there is always someone better than you. In that being said… Be the bigger person and walk away from a fight. Will you feel like a champ punching someone in the face at the bar? Will you feel better about yourself beating the mess out of someone? Will you feel better about yourself picking on the smaller kid at school because he won’t let you copy his homework? If you do feel better after that, then you have issues that need attention. You won’t be a better fighter fighting in the street. You will be a better fighter by surrounding yourself around better fighters and training in a controlled, safe environment with professionals. Remove your EGO and walk away. (Self Defense is a totally different situation)

A Big Thank you Trench Tech for giving me the opportunity to showcase my skills and gain the experience I need that has helped me in my MMA career. It’s a journey for me as a martial artist and as an individual to pursue happiness. I’m truly blessed to be given the opportunity to live MY LIFE to its fullest. One day I wish return to Saipan and give back to the island what the island has given me through Mixed Martial Arts.

MMA is a beautiful sport/art which has done great things for me as a martial artist and as a person. It would be selfish not to give our future the same opportunity I was given.

“It starts off as a DREAM! Turn it into a GOAL! Don’t let anyone or anything stop you or slow you down from reaching YOUR GOAL! “
“The sky is NOT the Limit… Because there are no Limits! Go get it!”

-Frank “The Crank” Camacho
Keep it Rockin…

Patriot:ToddVance

Dear John’ inspired by Mesa College student

Danielle Briggs

Media Credit: Daniel Dreifuss Todd Vance: student at Mesa College and Army veteran whose love story inspired the movie Dear John. [Click to enlarge]

The recently released Hollywood film, Dear John, is inspired by the life of a current Mesa student and his story of finding romance during a leave from the army.

Todd Vance, 28, is Nicholas Sparks’ cousin, the author of Dear John. Vance said Sparks based the novel-turned-film on his life while serving in the United States Army.

“There a few things he [Sparks] changed to make the story more interesting, but it is a pretty accurate depiction of what really happened,” said Vance.

The film is set in South Carolina where John is on leave from the army, meets a girl, and falls in love. The two are inseparable and continue dating and writing letters to each other, though he deploys back to Germany and she goes back to school.

“I came home on leave for two weeks and met a girl on the beach,” said Vance. “We spent every minute together and wrote to each other after I left.”

Vance, a San Diego native, enlisted with the Army in 1999, where he served as a Squad Leader in the Army Infantry as well as the 3rd Striker Brigade. Prior to Sept. 11, he had four months left on his contract, but re-enlisted and served in the war that ensued.

“We flew to Kuwait, and then the striker unit drove to northern Iraq,” said Vance.

While the romance follows Vance’s life more closely, the combat scenes are portrayed quite differently.

“In the movie John is in the Special Forces, which I was not,” Vance said. “He is also shot twice in the back. I was never shot, but pieces of metal flew into my back after a grenade explosion.”

In the film, while he is in combat, John learns that his dad is dying, and is sent back home to be with him, which is similar to the happenings in Vance’s life.

“My step-dad had a cyst behind his pancreas and had surgery to have it removed,” he said. “He passed from complications with the surgery.”

While this happens when John is in combat, Vance says it actually happened when he was on his two-week leave in San Diego, when he initially met his girlfriend.

The movie also shows John being broken up with in a final letter his girlfriend sends him telling him she’s engaged to someone else.

“My girlfriend never cheated on me, we stayed together the whole time,” said Vance.

Vance was let out of the Army in 2005, and came back home to San Diego, where he returned to his girlfriend, though they broke up after his homecoming.

“Being away from each other was really tough, and it created a lot of tension,” he said. “I also had a lot to deal with and it didn’t make the relationship work.”

In the end of the movie, John and his ex-girlfriend reunite after he comes back home, but similar to real life, the couple did not stay together in the movie.

“After the movie came out, we started talking again, but we’re just friends,” concluded Vance.

ForLife:KC

ChelusForLife:SinceEverSince

Vinnie Peredo:Cant believe itChelu.We got you covered on this side. Will be here for your family always to help you RestInPeace. Will never forget you.Honor.

FokaiFamilia:RestInPeaceShooto-Kun

Dear God,
Thank you for putting Shooto in my life.
The 15 years together were so

memorable although it went by so fast? we have many unforaetable memories.
Please take good care of him in heaven and tell him that I miss him dearly.
Oh?one more thing?be careful

Zoe and Shooto fight.
Amen.

EnsonInoue

ONRA:TheFlyingCockoroachSpeaketh

ustis F. “Cuki” Alvarez
PRESIDENT/PROMOTER

Ireland:God’sCountry

RicksReefClassic:March13th

Rick’s Reef Classic III surfing and body-boarding competition postponed to March 13, 2010

BARRIGADA, Guam, Feb. 20, 2010 –– Guahan Napu Inc., the local non-profit association of surfers and body-boarders, and organizer of the third annual Rick’s Reef Classic surfing competition, announced the postponement of the event from Feb. 27 to March 13, 2010.

Willi Byerly, president of Guahan Napu Inc., said the association had to comply with filing a 30-day notice with the Guam Police Department Marine Safety division about the marine event and obtain the necessary permit to proceed with the contest.

Pre-registration for the contest will now be re-scheduled to Friday, March 12 from 5 p.m.~7:30p.m. at the “Surfers’ Point” poolside bar of the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort. Sign-ups will not be accepted on contest day.

GNI will also hold a judging clinic for volunteer judges on March 9, four days prior to the event. Individuals interested to volunteer as judges should contact Ken Concepcion, vice president of Guahan Napu Inc. and the event’s head judge, at 689-2673.

For more information about the Rick’s Reef Classic III surfing competition, contact Byerly at (671) 483-1376 or email Theresa Taimanglo, association secretary at guahannapu@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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