{"id":348423,"date":"2021-07-22T06:04:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=348423"},"modified":"2021-07-22T06:04:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T20:04:05","slug":"daisuke-fitial-back-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/daisuke-fitial-back-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Daisuke Fitial back home"},"content":{"rendered":"
Daisuke Fitial poses with Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura after the Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series last July 10 in the waters off Civic Center Beach. (Mark Rabago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the pioneers of Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan is back on island and although he didn\u2019t take the plunge in last July 10\u2019s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series, Daisuke Fitial is just content in basking in the atmosphere of swimming competition again.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old incoming junior at Linfield University said he\u2019s on summer vacation on Saipan and will go back to Oregon in July 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be back. It\u2019s always great to see the younger generation continue the traditional that [Tsunami Saipan] coach Hiro [Kimura] started and it makes me happy to see everyone enjoy the sport of swimming,\u201d said Fitial, who is taking up BS Exercise Science in college.<\/p>\n

He said he only has fond memories swimming for Kimura and Tsunami Saipan and even won the most improved in kicking award in 2008 during the then-fledgling swimming club\u2019s first-year anniversary. <\/p>\n

\u201cI started swimming when I was 5 years old just for safety purposes. And then I actually joined Tsunami Saipan when I was 6 years old until I was 8 years old. Then I moved to the States in 2008 in Oregon and then I\u2019m back now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitial said aside from a short vacation in 2010, he really hasn\u2019t spent a lot of time back home since moving to the U.S. mainland in 13 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss the people, the camaraderie, and the tradition that coach Hiro started,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For his part, Kimura said Fitial swam with Tsunami Saipan until he moved to the Oregon when he was 9 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cI and Daisuke have been to Guam Championships in 2008. What I am truly happy about is that he has been swimming in the States. Immigrating and continuing the sport of swimming in the mainland is so hard. The hardships of his parents are immeasurable, and I think Daisuke himself also had a hard time. I am impressed with their efforts,\u201d said Kimura.<\/p>\n

The usually stoic Tsunami Saipan coach said he\u2019s always overwhelmed with emotions whenever he sees one of his swimmers return to Saipan and meet up with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow lucky am I as a swimming coach to have a reunion with one of my swimmers after 13 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To somehow makeup for not swimming the last time out, Fitial is expected to take part in this weekend\u2019s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series set this Saturday in the waters off Civic Center Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaisuke registered in the 1,500m. I\u2019m so excited to see current Tsunami Saipan swimmers competing with Daisuke!\u201d said Kimura.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the pioneers of Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan is back on island and although…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":348424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}