Wrestling pins hopes on youth

Northern Marianas Wrestling is counting on MMA fighters, here exchanging grapping and locking down skills in a previous competition on Saipan to jumpstart its program. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

“We’re planning a five-year program where we want to introduce it to high schools in the CNMI then slowly bring it to the elementary level,” said NMW president Jason Tarkong, who is also counting on the help of MMA fighters in the CNMI to jumpstart the program.

“It is a win-win situation. We teach kids the sport. They also learn about being disciplined and they stay out of drugs and other vices. We have a steady group of MMA fighters who know and have a background of the sport (wrestling),” the NMW head added.

Tarkong said some of MMA’s moves take its roots to wrestling like grappling, joint locks, pinning down your opponent, submission and take downs.

Wrestling, an ancient and modern day Olympic sport, is one of the programs offered in the Pacific Games and Micronesian Games. The CNMI won five of the 42 medals at stake in wrestling in the 2006 Micronesian Games, which was the last time the sport took place in the Commonwealth.

Palau topped the standings with a 4-1-1 gold-silver-bronze medal haul with Olympian Elgin Loren Elwais ruling the 60kg divisions of the Greco-Roman and freestyle events. Mixed martial arts veteran Frank “The Crank” Camacho won the lone gold medal for the CNMI when he topped the freestyle’s 84 kilogram division, while Jose Quan settled for the silver behind Palau’s Francis Gibbons in freestyle’ s 66 kg weight class. John Lizama (55 kg Greco-Roman and freestyle) and Cuki Alvarez (74 kg freestyle) clinched the bronzes.

Interest in wrestling died down after that and Tarkong wants to change things and bring back the sport in the CNMI’s consciousness.

Alvarez, who is now into organizing MMA events and training fighters at the Trench Tech Gym, is also willing to help out as he, Tarkong and coach Joe Ocampo were the pioneers of wrestling in the CNMI.

“A lot of MMA fighters here first learned about grappling and submission, which are the basic moves of wrestling. We already have a stable of MMA fighters ready and they are well versed in wrestling. I think it will be an easy transition and we just have to learn some of the rules and apply it during competition,” Alvarez added.

Ocampo was elected as NMW’s vice president while Saipan International School teacher Adam Harris, who competed in wrestling tournaments in high school and college in the U.S., is the group’s treasurer.

Tarkong said NMW, which was admitted as one of Northern Marianas Sports Association’s newest members, is in the process of being approved as a non-profit organization.

“We already submitted our charter,” the NMW head added. (Jon Perez)