{"id":393890,"date":"2023-06-16T06:06:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T20:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=393890"},"modified":"2023-06-16T06:06:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T20:06:03","slug":"our-kids-first-superheroes-cheerleader-and-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/our-kids-first-superheroes-cheerleader-and-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Our kids\u2019 first superheroes, cheerleader, and coach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Nick Gross and family, wife Rhonda Camacho Gross, back of photo, and children Beatrice, Victoria, Phoenix, Windsor, and Carver. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fathers are there for our first breath, our first steps, and are our first cheerleaders and fans. This Father\u2019s Day, we honor our fathers who have been our lifelong superheroes and supporters as they shape all aspects of our lives.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the CNMI, it has an abundance of fathers and father figures who all deserve to be honored this Sunday and throughout the rest of the year for their involvement and active roles in the lives of their children, whether as fledgling coaches, cheerleaders, or their kids\u2019 very first fans.<\/p>\n

Nick Gross, father, athlete, and husband, knows what it\u2019s like to wear all three hats. As the Athletic Program director for the Public School System, he and his wife, Rhonda Camacho Gross, are both lifelong educators who do their best to support their five children\u2014Victoria, 18; Phoenix, 14; Beatrice, 11; Windsor, 10; and Carver, 9\u2014and be whatever their kids need them to be, whether as coaches, as cheerleaders, or as besotted fans.<\/p>\n

Individually, Nick said, all their children have their own interests in sports and physical health, and over the years have participated in cross country, volleyball, basketball, badminton, soccer, and track and field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experiences we’ve had, both on-island and off, have guided us in raising our own children. While our kids have navigated elementary school, we encourage and support them in participating in as many sports, camps, clubs, etc. as possible,\u201d said Nick.<\/p>\n

When asked which values and characteristics they try to impart to their children to prepare for the future, Nick said, \u201cWe both agree that through these varied experiences our children will be equipped with tools to more effectively negotiate life with a love for movement\/sport, outdoor activities, and the arts, which translates to a healthier lifestyle and health benefits that will positively affect their health, both physical and mental, for a lifetime. More specifically, of the values inherent in sport participation, both individual and team, are vast. A few that come to mind are perseverance, sportsmanship, dedication, and leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Edward Dela Cruz Jr., with wife Anastasia Agafonova Dela Cruz, and 1-year-old Alexander “Sasha” Agafonov Dela Cruz.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He added, \u201cAlthough we may not discuss these values directly, or at least frequently with our kids, we can easily connect the dots and support these values as our children progress through their childhood(s). Implemented correctly, sports have the unique ability to teach kids about the importance of these values and the role they play in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 44-years-old, Nick enjoys everything sports and fitness related, but he claims he does not really practice what he preaches to the degree that he\u2019d like. On that note though, he said \u201cI look forward to representing the NMI as a master athlete in the upcoming Oceania Masters Athletics Championships in late June, as well as representing Team NMI at the 2023 Solomon Islands Pacific Games as our chef de mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStay active, CNMI and Happy Father’s Day to all!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As for new father Edward Dela Cruz Jr., whose son, Alexander \u201cSasha\u201d Agafanov Dela Cruz is just a year old, the values that Edward wants to instill in him are \u201cgood character, integrity, discipline, accountability, empathy, and just overall always doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edward has been married to Anastasia Agafonova Dela Cruz for three years and five months now, and both can be seen running with Sasha in his stroller up and down the Beach Road Pathway.<\/p>\n

Edward, at 31 years old, is the president of the running club Run Saipan, runs every day, participates in the sports of athletics, and is a firefighter for the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting.<\/p>\n

When talking about his son joining sports eventually, he said: \u201cWhatever sport he wants to play as he gets older, I\u2019ll be his No. 1 fan. If he doesn\u2019t join track and wants to be in James Lee’s basketball federation, I will bite the bullet and throw full support, but we will see. He\u2019s definitely not going to grow up like his father on video games.\u201d<\/p>\n

These fathers are just a small sample of fathers who do everything to make it happen at work and at home\u2014and we honor every single father, father figure, stepfather, and all fathers out there who are basically superheroes in disguise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fathers are there for our first breath, our first steps, and are our first cheerleaders…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":393893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-supplement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393890","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}