Connect with us

Fitness

LOCAL NINJA WARRIOR TO HOST GUAM BASED COMPETITION

Perez building his dream in the backyard

By Patrick Lujan

“If you built it, they will come.”

Made famous by the 1989 Field of Dreams movie and overused since then, it isn’t furthest from the truth when it comes to American Ninja Warrior veteran Deren Perez.

Competing in the unique athletic competition since 2015, Perez has always dreamed of bringing the event to Guam.

Now that the active duty Coast Guard member is stationed back home, Perez is literally building his dreams in his own back yard in Dededo.

“I absolutely love this sport and what the community is all about, and that’s helping each other rise to the challenge of overcoming obstacles. So I want to bring that camaraderie to the Pacific islands.”

The dream of bringing the sport to Guam started over two years ago when Perez was still stationed in the states. He said he’s visited over a dozen gyms to get ideas on what rig he wanted to build. He’s worked with the CEO of the Ultimate Ninja Athletic Association, became a member and is now preparing for Guam’s very first sanctioned event.

“Now that I’m here on island and the dream is slowly becoming a reality, I feel a heightened sense of pride. I’ve poured a lot of my own time, money and months of intense manual labor to bring Guam it’s very first Ninja Warrior competition. I would love for the sport to get big enough to host inner island competitions and eventually a Southeast Asia Pacific games.”

JUNE 25 IS GAME TIME

So used to preparing to compete, Perez is grinding to produce the challenging competition.

“The logistics for hosting a competition was definitely a learning curve. Being an athlete, training and knowing yourself is one thing. But working through all the different rules that come with hosting or being associated with a league was definitely a challenge. But at the end of the day it’s just another obstacle that I had to overcome to see my vision come to fruition.

“Ninja is still very new to the island. I feel this year’s competition to will be more of an eye-opener for those looking for an alternative style of sports/workouts.”

His main goal is to bring awareness to the sport, allow like-minded individuals the same opportunities to compete in Ninja Warrior style competitions and ultimately lead team from Guam to the world championships each year.

“The upcoming competition is not solely for the highly competitive individuals but this is also a chance for people to simply try out the course, to try out this style of competition and to basically provide people with a fun event while getting fit.”

If you are interested in trying your hand on the competition, you can register at https://ninjamasterapp.com/events/3494-guam-ninja-championship or contact Perez at
[email protected].

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Ad

GPS Sports Calendar

August

September 2023

October
SU
MO
TU
WE
TH
FR
SA
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
Events for August

1st

Events for September

2nd

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Events for September

3rd

Events for September

3rd

No Events
Events for September

5th

Events for September

6th

Events for September

7th

Events for September

8th

Events for September

9th

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Events for September

9th

No Events
Events for September

11th

Events for September

12th

Events for September

13th

Events for September

14th

Events for September

15th

Events for September

16th

17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Events for September

17th

Events for September

18th

Events for September

19th

Events for September

19th

No Events
Events for September

21st

Events for September

22nd

Events for September

23rd

24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Events for September

23rd

No Events
Events for September

25th

Events for September

26th

Events for September

27th

Events for September

28th

Events for September

29th

Events for September

30th

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

COMING SOON …

  • Brawl 3: Oct 13
  • Guam’s Strongest Man and Woman Competition October 29

 

QUICK HITS

The Figo Islanders 40s women’s softball team took gold in the Senior Softball World Championship in Las Vegas. Figo came out of the loser’s bracket and beat the Arizona Belles 17-3 in the AA division championship game Sunday afternoon.
Other Guam teams that played in the 40s tournament were: Team SOTTA (women’s) and Bud Light Guam, Friars 671 and Sindalun Guahan (men’s).
Sindalu finished a respectable 4th out of 24 AAA division teams.
——————————————————-
In Guam’s first time competing in the FIBA Asia Cup, we draw China, Japan, and Mongolia in Group C. Competition begins in 2024. Guam also moves up the FIBA world rankings to #76.

More in Fitness