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The young NMI National Wrestling Team has been throwing it down at the beach and on the mats as they gear up for the upcoming 2025 Palau Pacific Mini Games, set for June 29 to July 9.
After wrestling made a grand comeback to the CNMI sports scene last year at the Micronesian Games—where the team put on a strong showing with six gold medals—a much younger, locally assembled U20 squad is now looking to make an impression among the Pacific’s youth wrestlers in beach wrestling, freestyle, and Greco-Roman.
Rick Bauer, head coach for the team said after the successful return of CNMI wrestling last year, they put out some feelers this year for another team. “We were looking for guys who were interested and with some grappling experience. The five guys all raised their hands, we had a meeting, got some workouts in, and showed me that they’re not too green,” he said. “That was in April, and over the last couple of months, they’ve all learned a lot. They’ve all been working very hard. They’ve all bought into the process which isn’t always easy to convince guys to do because it’s a tough sport to compete in and a very tough sport to train. All five of them have just been showing up consistently and just grinding.”
The young, locally grown team is different from the Micronesian Games athletes, as they have no experience competing off-island and are mostly new to wrestling. Still, Bauer said the hopes for the boys are high. “I really believe that knowing from what we’ve seen competition wise in the Micro Games down in Marshalls, and taking that into consideration, I think we can go down there [to Palau] and have a really good chance of bringing back a handful of medals. Those are high hopes, but again, if you’re not shooting for that top of the podium, what are you doing, right? So that’s what we’re looking for—we’re looking to go down, and we’re looking to get our hands raised a bunch of times and hopefully come back with some jewelry.”
For 18-year-old Lincoln Manibusan, he said his background is in jiu-jitsu which he’s been doing for about two or three years. “I’ve only wrestled a very little bit in middle school so I’m not really familiar with it. I just want to take this opportunity to learn how to wrestle and also represent the NMI,” he said. As the team is new to wrestling, they’ve started training three months ago and practice four times a week. “The team right now, we’re feeling really confident. We’re really pushing each other—coach Rick is pushing us really hard and we’re working really hard. We’re going to try to make the best of it and try our best in Palau,”
On representing the CNMI, he said, “This is my first time representing NMI in any type of competition. But for me, I feel extremely proud and grateful to be able to have this experience and I know these guys are too, so we’re all just grateful to be a part of this experience and hope we can take it further after the Mini Games.”
As for what he thinks about wrestling, he said, “It’s a really tough sport. Almost every single practice, we’re really pushing the pace and going at it, so it’s hard, but it’s a really rewarding sport and I enjoy it a lot.”
For Vincent Palacios, a 16-year-old competing in the 61-kg said that the training so far has been okay. “We’re limited on mat space but we’re making it work. Overall, training has been pretty good. We learned so much in the past three months even though it’s short,” he said.
Palacios said he is into a lot of extreme sports including motocross, dirt bikes, kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu. “This opportunity to wrestle and go down to Palau, it opened my mind a little bit and I might as well try wrestling. Wrestling plays a big part in MMA, and MMA might be one of my goals in the future,” he said. On what he thinks about wrestling, he said, “it’s new, but it’s active. You don’t depend on teammates—you depend on your heart and your mental game. It’s all about you.”
The five-man team includes Jerick Quimzon, Lincoln Manibusan, Miles Borja, Seth Sablan, and Vincent Palacios, and is coached by Rick Bauer and Daryn Roufs, with Jason Tarkong as manager.
The 161-delegation Team Marianas is supported by the Office of the Governor, Saipan & Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, Joeten Daidai Foundation, ASC Trust, Triple J, Tan Holdings, Altanx, Quality Distributors, Mobil, McDonald’s, IT&E, Chinese Association on Saipan, GPPC, Marianas Press, Matson’s, LaoLao Bay Golf & Resort, Dial-Rent-To-Own, NMI Local Peace Corps Reunion Committee, Y.K. Corporation, Shell/AFE Marianas, LLC, Wushin, I Love Saipan, BC Corporation, and Artman.
The team is leaving on June 25.
By Leigh Gases
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