SEA4 Podcast: Southeast Asian Athlete Achievement > Adversity

Neil Diamond said, have you ever heard a story about a frog who dreamed of becoming a king, and then became one? Well except for the names and a few other changes if you’re talking about Leth Oun the story is the same one. Leth was a virtual slave under the Khmer Rouge but now protects the leader of the free world. After escaping the killing fields, transitioning through refugee camps and adapting...

How does a child go from a poor farming village in Laos to the top of a mountain? Opportunity, its what the American dream is ultimately all about.  After transiting through a refugee camp, Boomer Savanh, came to America as a child and went on to have a successful 27-year career in the U.S. Navy and is raising a family. As an athlete, he’s climbed to the top of some of the world’s most majestic mo...

Kenya Prach is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, known as the killing fields. Destitute and clinging to life, Kenya entered a refugee in Thailand.  At night he would sneak out of the camp and fight for money in order to support his family. In America, with limited language and job skills Kenya would rely on his fighting skills again and pass on bokator and the ancient kun-khmer arts to a new g...

For many in the U.S. participation in competitive sports ends on the high school football field but for Jerry Sysourath and Tino Paophavihanh football was only the beginning. Rugby, a sport that has long been popular in the Asia Pacific Region is steadily gaining a following in America and became a completive poulet for Jerry and Tino. What started off as a hobby has taken the two men around the w...

As Steve Hartman would say, “everybody has a story”. John Nammychai is no exception.  The child of refugees he guided himself into the world, jumping from planes, fighting in war, and realizing his version of an NFL dream on the semipro football field. John did this all while trying to understand who he is and to connect with his ancient Khmu heritage from Laos. This isn’t a story of an NFL star o...

Passion, its what drove Malay Boauphakeo from her humble begging in Storm Lake Iowa, to the softball diamond at Drake University. After graduating and entering the workforce her passion for competitive sports would lead her to found and compete on a roller derby team, the Des Monies Dames. Malay’s greatest passion in life might just be instilling it in others through her work as a life coach, IT r...

Why attempt something if most people fail?  Why put yourself in danger when you can be at home safe?  Soukhanthone Siphaxay, known to most as Tron,  was in boot camp during the September 11th, 2001 attack on America and would soon find himself on the front lines of the war on terror as part of an elite force, the Navy Seals. Tron enlisted in the Navy with the purpose of serving his...

The glory, the agony, the sport and the acting, we dive deep into the world of pro wrestling. From the bright lights of the stage to the depths of defeat it may be just a show to many, but to the athletes, it’s a lifestyle filled with exhilaration, challenges, pain and purpose.  Join us for a roundtable style discussion on what its like to be a pro wrestler.   This is Ringside Raine and welcome to...

The road to greatness can be a lonely one and no one knows this better than champion powerlifter, James Vang. It was during a tough time in life that James made a choice, ignore the naysayers, don’t let others define you and go all in. As a member of Team USA, a nine-time national champion, and Arnold Classic title holder, James Vang has powered his way to the top of the sport. It's not all about...

This is part two of our interview with Lao-American dancer, poet, and scientist, Krysada Panusith Phounsiri. In the last episode, he took us on a journey, from break dancing on the streets of San Deigo to national tv and the Las Vegas stage.  Krysada is also a poet and tells of his experiences and the stories of his community through writing.  We start off part two of this inspiring inte...

Part 1 of a two-part interview. What lies at the intersection of science, art, language, and athleticism? At the confluence of Lao and American culture? Krysada Panusith Phounsiri, or Binly, as he is known is an accomplished break dancer, award-winning poet, artist, and physicist. From his early days in Laos to the Las Vegas stage, Binly is writing his story with every dance move, photograph, and...

Sometimes, in life people shoot for their dreams, literally. Arick Souvanna grew up in Saginaw Texas, a town known for hosting one of the largest Lao New Year celebrations in America. Arick is putting this tight-knit community on the map again, this time for Precision Rifle Shooting. From building his own ammunition to traveling the country for competition, Arick is taking a shot at a dream. After...

Sometimes we don’t find our calling in life, it finds us. As a refugee from Laos, Kenji Saykosy was bullied as a child and turned to martial arts for self-defense. 40 years later at Royal Tiger Academy in Damascus Maryland, Kenji and his partner Dee Dee, pass on their knowledge and passion to students of all ages. Helping young people build confidence, preparing athletes for competition and keepin...

In 1960 a group of southeast Asian countries came together in Kuala Lumpur to standardize the rules and settle on a name for an ancient sport, Sepak Takraw.  The sport began gaining popularity in the United States mainly within the Lao and Hmong diaspora communities in places like Northern California and Minnesota during the 1980s.  Jeremy Mirken began playing with a group of Lao Americans at an a...

You may have heard the saying “find your why”.  It’s the why that has driven Nate Sengmany from his namesake, a refugee camp in Thailand, to doing the Nate Pose on top of some of California’s most scenic bluffs.  He came up during Sacramento’s turbulent 1990’s and after an encounter with the criminal justice system Nate made a choice in life by finding his why.  Nate’s why is to lea...

What would motivate someone who holds a master’s degree, is a licensed paramedic and speaks five languages to step into the ring with some of the best fighters in the world?  A passion and a dream. A passion for competing and the dream of representing your ancestral homeland at the biggest athletic show on earth, the Olympics.  Walter Sarnoi Oupathana has come a long way from fighting on the mean...

Drive by any park or visit an indoor rec center these days and you’re sure to see people, young and old, hitting a ball in what appears to be a life-size game of Ping-Pong.  Pickleball has taken the US by storm and two Lao Americans are riding its wave.  Noi Sourinthone, left his home in Tennessee to follow his dream to Wichita, Kansas, where he reconnected with a childhood friend and now fellow p...

When one door closes another one opens. As refugees from Laos, Sy and Nang Sayasone were resettled in the Midwest where they quickly went to work, toiling in meat packing plants in an effort to give their children a better life. Jackie would take advantage of that opportunity and go on to be a college athlete but just as Jackie’s college soccer career was taking off, she was diagnosed with a blood...

Sometimes, our life’s calling finds us in the most unexpected ways. Ohn Phommavong grew up in a rice farming village in rural Laos before heading to the city in search of work.  Through a chance encounter, she would fall in love with a backpacker from America, Justin Scoggins.  After traveling across Asia together they would settle down to a new life in America where Justin introduced her to an ob...

They may say that “nice guys finish last” but Ben Nguyen proves that sometimes it’s the good guy who comes out on top.  After the war in Vietnam Ben’s family settled in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where they rebuilt their lives from scratch as refugees. Ben was bullied as a child so his mother signed him up for taekwondo.  From his early days practicing in a church basement to stepping in...

Arnold Schwarzenegger's six rules for success are, trust yourself, break some rules, don’t be afraid to fail, work like hell and give something back. The first time David Phrathep stepped onto the baseball field he was the underdog. From being told that he wasn’t cut out for little league to taking a shot as a college walk-on, David used that negative energy as fuel and became the first know Lao-A...

When it comes to chasing your dream, they say, “it’s not the destination but the journey”.  Pilot Christa Camvongcau Atwood is on the journey of a lifetime, chasing her dream from destination to destination through the skies. From her humble beginnings as a refugee to taking the controls of an A320 Christa is breaking down barriers in a male-dominated industry. Her story shows us that when it...

Linda Sayavongchanh was introduced to basketball in elementary school, a sport that was foreign to her parents who had recently resettled in America as refugees from Laos. At Des Moines-Lincoln High School she would score a staggering 1,630 points, be crowned Miss Iowa Basketball and was named Gatorade player of the year before signing with Drake University.  After an amazing college career w...

When we featured Folkstyle national champion and Stanford University wrestler Dawson Sihavong as a rising star in the Lao American Sports Hall of Fame it quickly became apparent that Dawson’s journey to the top began a generation earlier in war-torn Laos. Nara Sihavong came to the United States as a refugee in 1978. A mere seven years later he made history when in 1985 he joined the wrestling team...

Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “in our society, the women who break down barriers are those who ignore limits.  That’s exactly what Maria Balang did.  Maria started working out to get in shape but soon found herself on the stage competing against women half her age.  This mother of four would go on to capture one of bodybuilding top honors, earning her IFBB pro card in the ultra-c...