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Olympian to visit Saipan schools
Beijing Olympian Sean Pangelinan will be visiting some Saipan schools today to make a brief talk on how to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle.
Sean Pangelinan’s visit on Saipan is part of the Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service’s program in battling childhood obesity in the CNMI. Pangelinan is the paddler second from right. (Contributed Photo)
Pangelinan, who will also grace the second edition of the Marianas PaddleFest Series on Saturday, will start his school tour at the Marianas High School starting at 9:30am. His visits will only last an hour.
“Sean will be visiting schools to talk to kids about fitness and reaching their goals in life. Part of Sean’s visit is to talk to the youth of the community while he’s here,” said Dino Manning, one of the organizers of the PaddleFest.
The 28-year-old Pangelinan’s next stops will be at Chacha Oceanview Middle School at 11am, Tanapag Middle School at 1pm, and Dandan Middle School at 2:30pm.
On Friday, Pangelinan’s itinerary starts at Hopwood Junior High School at 8:45am followed by Mt. Carmel School at 10:30am. His 1pm schedule is at San Antonio Middle School is still tentative.
Manning said Pangelinan’s visit to the schools is in partnership with the Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service’s program in battling childhood obesity in the CNMI.
“Sean’s visit to the schools is a project in partnership with NMC-CREES. We went to the presentation of the proposal in a meeting at the [Public School System] to know the objective. And the interest from the schools was there,” Manning added.
Pangelinan will also be at the Marianas PaddleFest Series on Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan’s beachside where he will conduct a free paddling clinic to all registered participants of the event jointly organized by OceanSoul Unlimited and Windsurfing Saipan.
His free clinic includes training tips, techniques, and fitness in Stand Up Paddling.
The Yona-born paddler represented Guam in the men’s singles flatwater canoeing events in the 29th Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. He made history by reaching the semifinals of the 500m event and was 10 seconds shy of clinching another semis berth in the 1,000m due to a bad start.
Pangelinan, who began his paddling career in Guam’s interscholastic sports program, got into flatwater canoeing when he was a high school senior. He manages his own gym, FitLab in San Diego, California.
Registration is still open at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/marianas-paddlefest-race-2-registration-18710063303 or at WindSurfing Saipan. For more information, email oceansoulunlimited@gmail.com.
NMC-CREES, Hyatt Regency-Saipan, WindSurfing Saipan, Bank of Hawaii, Triple J Enterprises, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, KKMP 92.1, Saipan Apparel, Kialoa Paddles, Infinity SUP, Better Surf Than Sorry, and JET Holdings are supporting the event.
