Guam – Two Guam junior surf athletes will compete at the Isonoura Youth Surfing Contest in Japan on July 3. Jared Brandon Gogue, 13, and his older sibling, 16-year-old Joshua James “JJ” Gogue, will compete at the surfing contest in the coastal town of Wakayama, near Osaka.
This is the second time that Guahan Napu Inc., the local non-profit association of surfers and body-boarders, is sending junior association members to participate in the competition. The association had previously sponsored two grommets – one of whom was Jared Brandon Gogue, then 11 – in June 2009 to the same event. The younger Gogue placed third overall at the Isonoura Surfing competition in 2009. He was also first place winner of both the 2010 Rick’s Reef Classic III and 2010 Surf the Basin II junior open and grommets division. Joshua James Gogue placed first in the 2009 Rick’s Reef Classic II junior surfing event and second in both the 2010 Rick’s Reef Classic III and 2010 Surf the Basin II junior division. This will be the first time that the older Gogue is competing overseas.
“Our association believes that in order for these juniors to attain the standards and skills to reach the next competitive level, they should get exposure to compete anddevelop their surfing abilities in different contests on Guam as well as overseas,” says Willi Byerly, president of Guahan Napu association. “They are potentially Guam’s future male athlete surfing representatives when they reach that age category to compete in regional and international events.”
Soul Surfing: (L-R) Fred Mendiola, Jared Gogue and Josh Gogue.
The duo leaves on June 30 and will return to Guam on July 5, accompanied by their father and Fred Mendiola, manager of Lotus Surf Shop and Guam’s long board surf athlete at the upcoming 2011 Pacific Games in New Caledonia. The two young athletes’ travel expense is also partly sponsored by a financial donation from Tumon Bay Lobster and Grill.
Information from a press a release.
frankie@spbguam.com
