THE STORY BEHIND THE MISSION

Soon after Collin first landed in Guam he began paddling with these two fellas Joe and Jeff and then a little later Erwin. At the time, the paddling culture was seemingly in a lull. Collin was immediately taken with this sport and its intensity and the sense of community that the team was building. Collin, Joe, Jeff and Erwin went on to create a club team, competed, did very well and gained some recognition for themselves and the sport. As they began to really promote the sport, more and more interest in the community was sparked. Now, I cannot mention the growth of paddling Guam without mentioning also longtime supporter, organizer and mentor, Guam National coach, Rick Appleton. On my visits to Guam, Rick was always a mainstay in the paddling community and certainly has and continues to bring substantial support to the sport in Guam. In any event as things continued to take development, Collin took on the creation of his High School Paddling Team, which notably this year went undefeated and won the championship.

During this time Collin, Joe, Jeff and Erwin among others realized that there continued to be a lack of young paddlers to feed the ranks of High School teams and club teams so they took it upon themselves to implement "Operation Mayors". "Operation Mayors" was a grass roots movement to petition the Mayors of villages to appropriate funds for the purchase of outrigger canoes thus building an island wide youth paddling league. "You buy the boats and we will coach the kids". So Collin and his crew broke off and all set out to these communities as coaches and really helped bring about a rebirth of paddling in Guam. At this time in Guam, there are now both strong club and High school paddling leagues. On any given evening on lagoons and bays all over Guam, such a Piti, you can see canoes with coaches and paddlers training for their weekend competitions. You see its truly a beautiful thing.

The story doesn't stop there. Collin has gone on to compete in the Cook Islands with his original, "Allstar" team of Erwin, Jeff and Joe. He was also invited to be a last minute substitute for the Pan-Asia Dragon Boat paddling competition in China, which sounded like an amazing adventure.

So then that brings us to Leann. Leann and Collin met on a whirlwind wedding bash in Mexico. I say bash because it sounded insane! In a fun way. The short end is that the sparks flew for Leann and Collin. Collin returned to Washington State with this massive crush and persisted to spend the next four weeks attached at the hip with Leann. These two were obviously smitten and seeing that Collin was flying back to Guam in no time at all, they were trying to get the most out of their time together.
Collin approached me with, "What do I do here?"
I said, "Collin you have nothing to lose and everything to gain brother, take her with you, have fun, laugh and see how it goes. Worst case, it doesn't work out and Leann gets to see Guam."
At the time Leann was not attached to her teaching position or living arrangements so she was more game than not. Which is generally a good way to describe Lee. She's game. Now I may be taking some liberty here, but I would venture to say that when put into perspective this was a pretty scary move to make. Just met this guy four weeks ago, he lives in Guam and now he's asking me to move to Guam. Talk about life changes and going big! Leann took the challenge. Gutsy move. And so we all know how this turns out, because we are here reading this Wedding Gift blog. Now, I'm not sure how long Lee waited to start paddling with Collin, but there is a funny side to this story. I remember distinctly hearing Leann mumble about how she didn't want to paddle, it was to "hardcore", too competitive. Which I was kind of agreeing with her at the time. As a side note here, competitive outrigger canoe paddling is not 'hey, let's go for a nice paddle and check out the birds and cliffs and such'. It's more along the lines of wondering 'what's going to happen first, are my arms going cramp up and fall off or is my heart going to rocket out of my chest'. No joke, I have been humbled too many times to count by this exercise. Anyway, so Lee, mumbling about its a bit hardcore too competitive, etc. Well shortly after this Leann through some persuasion joins a club team. Well, the cat is out of the bag, because we all soon find out that it's Leann who is a bit hardcore and competitive! Soon enough Lee is on a strict regiment of diet and exercise and second place is not ever going to be good enough! We all knew Lee was an athlete, but wow, she has the focus, the discipline and the intensity! I hear whispers that a sibling rivalry may have had something to do with that. Leann went on to compete with her girls team at the South Pacific International Paddling Competition in Rarotonga last year and the team held their own. So paddling went on to become an important part in Leann's life as it had with Collin.

OUR DONORS!!!
Steven Torres
Justin Maenhout
Ann Marie Gawel
Jann & Calvin Smith
Ariel & Luke Coleman-Puttrese
Rick, Leilani & Duke Appleton
Josh Thun
Kate Cendejas
Jen Briggs
Jake Briggs
Sara & Joel Blackmon
Kendal Thomas
Greg & Cindi Lang
Trevor & Sasha Smith
Laurel & Cactus Cook
Nate Roberts
Barry & Robin Maxwell
Holly & Mark Smith
Brianna Greer
Howard & Nancy Murphy
Renee Malkey
Thomas Jarzynka
Tom & Taliea Strohmeyer
David Crockett
Cindi, Kyle & Brea Bowen
Phil & Sara Zarelli
Brenda Sonnier & Mike Sariotis
Katie Hagerman
Ian, Sara, Eridan & Aine
Lynnae & Doug Coleman
Kelly, David, Olivia & Taylor Andringa
Steve, Carla & Andringa Family
Tami, Brian, McKenzie & Connor Andringa
Kaleb Coleman
Clay Murdach & Brittany Downham
Nancy & "Symon, the cat" Andringa
Allen Andringa
Megan, Travis, Piper & Bronco Cook
Robin DelRosso & Ed Coleman
Bethany & Chris Johnson
Mark & Kathy Galvin
Bill Briggs & Barbara Simon
Adam Davidson
Jill Coleman & Chris Valley
Erwin Cruz, Charity & Jamias
Jessica, Tony, Sophie & Sumner Smith
Johnathan "The Reverend" Hopkins
Natalie Cavlo
Libby Cook
Alison, Brian & Georgia Handsaker
Marivel Anderson
Jennice Eckert & Shawn Franquez
Tyler & Averil Smith
Scott Davis
Brian Roth
Stephanie Coleman
Joe, Lisha, Ha’ani Mae & Matau Joseph Nowell
Debbie Retuyan
Mike Pangelinan
Roxanna Myers & Erik Miller
Robert Reyes
Derek Sullivan
Jennifer & Josh Frunz
Argy Evarola
Shaun Hong
David & Wendy Hupperich
Pam & John Swanes
Asrid, Mike & Leon Scott
Matt, Paula, Nicole & Jasmine Daniels
Connie & Bill Hilton
Patrick Kane
Brian Chargualaf


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