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ASCC students to represent Territory at international sports event

American Samoa Community College (ASCC) Athletics Director Ed Imo will accompany two students from the territory when they depart later this month for Kazan, Russia to participate in the 2013 Summer Universiade being held by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU), which translates to English as the International University Sports Federation.

 

The two students representing the Territory are tennis competitor Miss Litia Godinet, a former ASCC student now attending Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Mr. Charles Urhle, who currently attends ASCC and will compete in the 800 Meter Run.

 

Both Charlie and Litia expressed great anticipation regarding the forthcoming trip, and have a positive attitude toward what could be its more daunting aspects.

 

“I feel that this trip will be a great experience, for life is all about the experiences that we go through daily, the good and the bad,” said Charlie, age 20, whose parents are Sam and Mina Uhrle of Leone. “Academically, this will be a historic trip where l get to meet people from around the world, and learn about their cultures.”

 

His sports experience to date includes representing American Samoa several times in soccer competitions, and he currently plays for the Leone White rugby team. “I’m scared and humbled at the same time,” reflected Charlie. “Scared because I’ll be competing against the best in the world and humbled to be representing our country in an event of this magnitude.”

 

For Litia, age 21 and the daughter of Dave and Evi Godinet of Tafuna, the trip represents a chance to show how someone can excel in a sport few associate with players from American Samoa. “This won’t be my first time playing internationally, but it's a great opportunity to compete and meet new people,” she explained. “I would really like to make our island known for a sport many people don’t believe we can compete in.”

 

Litia will take with her an impressive record of wins to date, having received three MVP awards — Player of the Year, Singles All Conference, Doubles All Conference — competing stateside this past January.

 

“My dream of playing tennis is to become a professional,” she said, “and maybe be the first American Samoan to actually make it in the sport.” Concurrently with her tennis activities, Litia is pursuing a BA in Science at Stillman and aspires to study further towards a Masters degree in Nutrition.

 

The Universiade, overseen by FISU is an international sporting and cultural festival staged every two years in a different city. The only summer multi-sport event in the world that connects students at both the academic and athletic levels, the 2013 Summer Universiade will bring together more than 9,000 student athletes and officials from over 170 countries.

 

This year’s host, the city of Kazan, is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan and one of the largest economic, scientific and cultural centers in the Russian Federation. Officially referred to as the “Third Capital” and “Sports Capital” of Russia, Kazan is also known as the “City of Students”, with over 150,000 attending its higher education establishments, which include the main federal university of the Volga region and several national research universities.

 

As the FISU representative of American Samoa, Imo explained that he personally selected Godinet and Urhle for the all-expenses-paid trip based on their outstanding abilities. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime,” he said. “We all know how rare it is for anyone from the Territory to go to Russia, let alone experience this type of competition within their sport and have the opportunity to take in the cultural diversity that goes with an event like this.”

 

All of this cultural diversity as well as tough sports competition will be broadcast by over 100 television channels throughout the world, and covered by approximately 1,500 media representatives. Kazan expects an estimated 100,000 tourists from Russia and beyond to visit the city over the 12 days the Universiade is in progress.

 

Active since 1949, FISU was formed within international university institutions in order to promote sports values and encourage sports practice in harmony with and complementary to the university spirit. The organization firmly believes that promoting sports values means encouraging friendship, fraternity, fair-play, perseverance, integrity, cooperation and application among the students who one day will have responsibilities and key positions in politics, the economy, culture and industry. FISU strives to ensure that as allies or competitors, these men and women will have learned how to collaborate and deal with every eventuality, while respecting the ethical codes enshrined in sports values.

 

Promoting sports values and sports practices also implies giving a new dimension to the university spirit in study, research, and discipline, according to the FISU.

 

For more information on FISU, visit the organization’s web page at: www.fisu.net.