Here we are once again, traveling abroad to represent American Samoa in the sport of wrestling. This year is a big year for all of the Olympic sports association because we are on the cusp or the 2012 London Olympic Games.

For wrestling, the 2012 Senior Oceania Wrestling Championships in Sydney Australia, is the first step towards trying to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games. No one is able to qualify for the Olympic games without participating in these continental championships. The top senior wrestlers at these championships will go on to wrestle at the African/Oceania Continental Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco in March.

This year our contingent of wrestlers to the Oceania Championships is much smaller than years past due to the cost, however they are by far the best and toughest we have ever had.

The 2012 National Wrestling Team:

Traveling from American Samoa:

Ethan Lake (Head Coach)

Sam Fulton

Caleb Scanlan

Tuigamala Iosefo

Bruce Scanlan

Flying in from Mainland Training Location:

Carl Floor

Sonny Gaoa

Travis Nua

We hope to keep everyone updated back in American Samoa on our daily progress through daily postcards to home. Thank you in advance to Samoa news for printing our postcards in the newspaper.

MORE POSTCARDS

Writter Sunday January 23, 2012

Dear Irene,

Miss you and Baby Ethan.  Wish you could be here, but I’m glad that you didn’t have to go through what we went through the last 24hrs. As you know, our flight was delayed an hour yesterday, then when we finally got to Apia, we found out our bags were not with us.  The airlines didn’t even have the courtesy to tell us that our bags were not on the flight. We had to go back to the airport two hours later spending another $40 on the taxi to wait for our bags. We finally got our bags 4 hours later. We spent the rest of the evening with the Samoa national Wrestling team at their gym.  They took care of us and even paid for our taxi to the airport this morning. 

Unfortunately, after arriving at the airport this morning, we found that they canceled our flight because the pilot for the flight had just passed away, so the airport was chaotic trying to rebook everyone’s flights.  Luckily we were finally able to get the next flight out which is later tonight at midnight. We will connect in Auckland and then be in Sydney tomorrow morning.

Love and Miss you —Ethan

****************************************

Hey Ken,

Well, as you may have heard, we ran into a few problems on our way to Sydney. Thankfully  Gilda at Mabuhay Travel has been a lifesaver. Our flight from Apia to Sydney got canceled and they tried to schedule us for 3 days after.  She helped us get the next flight out instead. After a lot of whining, the airline finally put us up at Aggie Grey’s until our flight out tonight. Mabuhay deserves a Gold medal for helping us out, even after hours. We should be meeting up with the rest of the team tomorrow. We are still working out our lodging situation.

Please thank the ASNOC executive committee for their support. We plan to bring back Gold.  Wish us luck.

Ethan

****************************************

Hey Mapu,

We are stuck here in Apia on our way Sydney for the Wrestling Championships. Just wanted to thank you for everything you do for the youth and the sports programs, especially wrestling and boxing. Let Noah, Floi and everyone else at Maliu Mai that we appreciate all they do for our program. We are taking wrestling to the next level thanks to you. We plan to make a big impact in Sydney. The boys want to thank you as well for being such an inspiration.

We’ll keep you posted on our trip.

Ethan

***************************************

Hey Mom, things aren’t really going to plan, but everything seems to be turning out okay. We’re posted up here at Aggies after having three complications in our flight plans. Me, Sam, and JR are still cutting weight, but we’re still on track; the granola bars are really helping. Bruce is already on weight, so he’s pigging out all the food here.  It’s always good to know that our plans are in God’s hands.

Hoping to bring back the Gold.

Caleb

****************************************

Hey Family,

We’re staying over here in Apia right now. Our original flight to Australia got cancelled, so we’re taking a detour thru New Zealand. Everything’s going smoothly now and we’ll be in Australia tomorrow. Wish me luck on the competition.

Bruce

****************************************

Talofa lava America Samoa,

Hey guys, thanks for all the support you have shown us.  We’re a little behind schedule, but nothing too catastrophic has happened.  We’ve been training hard, but each drop of sweat from my brow is my way of thanking everyone back home. I would like to send my thanks to my Aunties Ime and Laina, to my uncles Tumua and Lole,  to the supporters from my village and school, and to the best mom in the whole world, Lentoy Matagi (THS principle). This journey is far from easy, but knowing that people support gives me strength and determination. Please pray and continue to support us.

Tuigamala Iosefo. JR.

***************************************

Hey dad, greetings from Western Samoa. The team and I are having a lot of fun and are training hard to bring back golds in all of our weight classes. Sadly we have been having some flight delays and are going to arrive in Sydney Australia a day late. But we won’t let this bring us down, we are more driven than ever to win all of our weight classes. I miss my family and cannot wait to get back.

Sam