The fun is in the risk

It’s is a cycle that is a big a part of Saipan as the tides, as a number of good people venture to the Northern Marianas from points abroad, make a positive impression on the CNMI community, and find themselves leaving their friends behind for the next stop along the road of life.

Such is the case for outgoing friend of the islands, Faheem Ebrahim. In just about four years, the kid from Hong Kong made his way to Saipan the way many have before him—as a Clubmate at the Pacific Islands Club.

For his first eight months on Saipan, Ebrahim was “running and jumping around” at the popular San Antonio hotel, and while he admits that he still hasn’t really got that out of his system, he took a risk by going from lifeguard to life coach as the spa manager of Club Elan at the Hyatt Regency Saipan

“Somebody let me know about it, I went in and put in my resumé, got lucky with an interview, and I just had a good interview. I didn’t have a lot of experience, I was 22 years old, and it was a shot in the dark, and for me it was just a chance to gain a little experience with the interview process. I got a little lucky and they forwarded me to the General Manager, and when I met him I thought I was done for because he met me and dismissed me in two minutes, but I guess he just wanted to meet me. I got a little lucky and sometimes you just have to take a chance. The last three years have been great. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun—it’s a great hotel,” he said.

While it took a little ambition for him to toss his hat in the ring, Ebrahim’s success started when he took a bigger risk many years ago when he strayed from the easy path, passed on his parent’s requests, and left home at 17 years old to pursue a career in tennis.

Ebrahim got his start when he picked up a racket as a five-year-old in Hong Kong, playing with a group of friend on the weekends. As the youngest, Faheem routinely came out on the losing end of his matches, but as he got a bit older he was able to return the favor.

While he developed his skills the hard way, Faheem turned his passion for the game into a shot at fame.

“I actually started playing professionally pretty late. Not until I was about 14-years-old did I realize that I wanted to give it a go. Then at 17, my parents wanted me to go straight to college, so I packed up my bags, bought myself a ticket, and just left,” he said.

Faheem went from court to court playing the top players around and, at his best, reached as high as the Top 900 players in the world on the singles scene and among the Top 400 doubles players before injuries took their toll. From then on he moved around again until fate led him to contact the PIC.

“I was playing tennis for four years and then ended up living in Australia doing some schooling when I got in contact with Jon [Cramer at the Pacific Islands Club] and needed to reassess a little bit, gave it a go, and took a little bit of a risk. I intended to be here for a year and then move back or move on and I got lucky with the hotel. It’s funny how things happen,” he said.

Faheem said that he has had so many great experiences on Saipan, but that his most memorable is less a personal accomplishment and more of a feeling of complete satisfaction for a job well done.

“There’s a lot of them, but the best way to sum it up is with something like the golf tournament and seeing it all come together. Not just because it was a work achievement and not as an achievement on my part, but on the whole hotel. You see the community, you see friends, businesses, vendors that we work with, and staff all come together and make an entire event run like clockwork. It’s good to see. It benefits business, it’s great for morale, it’s great to be with friends and have them support what you’re doing, and for charity, of course,” he said.

While he claims his most exciting activity on islands has been jumping from the cliff line into the ocean from atop the seventh green at the Laolao Bay Golf Resort, Ebrahim said that he will miss the people of the CNMI most of all.

“The people for sure. It’s a great community and that’s one of the things that when you’re tossing and turning about, taking a risk of some sort, especially somewhere like China where they have such a large environment and I’m just a little peewee, it’s definitely going to humble me,” he said

Now Faheem is taking another risk of sorts by heading off to China in hopes of picking up a new language in time to fully appreciate the Olympic experience when the world comes to Beijing in 2008.

“I’ll be going back to Hong Kong first for 10 days and then I’m going in to Shanghai to meet some contacts and maybe set something up with the Ritz Carlton. The whole purpose why I’m going there is to study Mandarin and also I want to be around when the Olympics are there in a couple of years. I’ve got a language class in Beijing that starts in a couple of months, so that gives me two years worth to get fluent and then work in hotels at the same time—double things up and get as much in there as possible,” he said.

While he has a good plan, Faheem has nothing completely settled for sure, but that is one of the risks that have fueled his fire for the better part of his life.

“Plenty of questions and plenty of risk, but it’s no fun if you don’t take any risks,” he said.