{"id":415453,"date":"2024-10-31T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=415453"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Nicko-golden-in-Charleston-Int-l-Open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Nicko-golden-in-Charleston-Int-l-Open\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicko golden in Charleston Int\u2019l Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

The patriarch of the Salem family, Nicko, is golden in the Charleston International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2024 last Saturday in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

In the middleweight, blue belt division, Salem won gold over silver medalist Matthew Kruger. Third place were Ryan Berberian and Philip Matherly.<\/p>\n

With his gold medal, he said it was, \u201cvery refreshing especially as a parent and coach of jiu jitsu. I get to place myself in my children and students\u2019 shoes and set the example for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before this tournament, he competed last Oct. 12 in Emerson, Georgia. There, he won two gold medals in two separate divisions at a Newbreed Jiu Jitsu Federation tournament. \u201cCompeting at the tournament back in Georgia was a preliminary event to help me get ready for the IBJJF tournament here in South Carolina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In this IBJJF tournament, he said, \u201cThe competition was tough. I sustained an ankle injury in my first match, but couldn\u2019t let myself miss the chance to win gold in the finals.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will next compete alongside his daughter, multi-awarded young martial artist, Nickole, at a super fight in Cincinnati, Ohio at the end of December.<\/p>\n

Nicko is a staff sergeant in the U.S. Marines for almost 12 years now and is a 2012 graduate of Saipan Southern High School. In 2014, he became the first recruit from Saipan to earn the coveted company honor graduate for Company M after completing his boot camp training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n

His wife, Nickole and Mattheo\u2019s mother, Maria Victoria, is an alumnae of Marianas High School. They now reside in Charleston, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nicko Salem stands on the podium with his gold medal during the awards ceremony of the Charleston International Open IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2024 in South Carolina last Saturday.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
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The patriarch of the Salem family, Nicko, is golden in the Charleston International Open IBJJF…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415453","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=415453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}