SEA4 Podcast: Southeast Asian Athlete Achievement > Adversity

Davy Phrathep and his brother David took up baseball during their childhood in Florida. The brothers, whose parents were refugees from Laos, would go on to be the first known Lao Americans to compete at the NCAA Division I level. While Davy may have hung up his glove after graduating from Florida International University, he would merge his athletic experience with his academic pursuits and delve...

After the secret war in Laos Lo Phong La Kiatoukaysy and his family fled their Hmong village in the mountains and were resettled on the great plains of America. The family adapted to life in Kansas but would try and reconnect with their highland roots by vacationing in the Rocky Mountains. Lo Phong eventually headed to New York City exploring American counter-culture, finishing college, and workin...

Justin Phongsavanh was only two years old when he entered the Iowa foster care system after his biological parents were incarcerated.  He was raised by his adoptive mother in Ankeny, Iowa, and excelled at a variety of sports until at the age of 18 his life changed forever.  Justin was shot in a Mcdonald's parking lot after an encounter with a mentally disturbed military veteran.  Th...

Five feet tall, 184 lbs, and out of shape. That was Jennifer Chanthavong when in 2017, determined to take her life back, she walked into V-Fit martial arts of Arlington Texas. Jennifer started taking kickboxing classes to get in shape but soon found herself in the ring fighting against some of the best up-and-coming martial artists that Texas had to offer.  Throughout her journey, Jennifer has exp...

Channing Cash was born in a small village in Laos where at three years old she was attacked by a bull that had escaped from its pasture.   The attack left Channing unable to walk and was the catalyst behind her parent’s immigration to America as they sought better medical care and quality of life for their daughter.  Upon graduation from high school in Rockford, Illinois, Channing b...

On January 17, 1989, a man walked onto the campus of Cleveland elementary school in Stockton California and unleashed a rain of terror that would leave five children dead and more than 30 others wounded.  The mentally disturbed perpetrator, Patrick Purdy, spent his childhood in and out of the foster care system and had a long criminal record and history of drug use and mental illness.  M...

The call that every MMA fighter dreams of finally came in. The man they call the “Asian Sensation” had nine days to drop 25 lbs and get to Las Vegas for his UFC debut. Adversity was nothing new to Andre Soukhamthath and on March 04, 2017, he stepped into the cage securing his place in history as the first Lao American to fight in the UFC. Andre’s journey to the top wasn’t easy and but by his side...

Bobby Syvanthong started playing basketball at the age of four in the blue-collar town of Richmond California.  He would be crowned MVP at El Cerrito High School before heading to the east coast to play for the University of Maine at Fort Kent where he revolutionized their game. His talents would capture the eyes of scouts in Thailand and Bobby’s greatest honor would come when in 2018 he stepped o...

In 1975 the Khmer Rouge launched a rain of terror that would result in the death and displacement of millions of people.  Vanna In and his family would escape the killing fields only to face a new war on, this time on the streets of America.  Caught between the emotional scars that the genocide left on his family and the gang violence of the 1990’s Vanna would head down a dark path as a teenager a...

Growing up in poverty and in an abusive home David Boutsomsy poured his energy into athletics. While running track and playing football in high school he was introduced to Powerlifting by a teacher. David would join the Delaware State University Football team and unsuccessfully try out for the NFL and Arena league before going all-in on bench press. The pain of David’s childhood would fade away wh...

Growing up Cody Chhun was a typical Seattle teenager and everyone expected him to head to college after high school.  Cody instead chose to forge his own path, into the world of professional wrestling.  Unbeknownst to his family, he would sneak off to wrestling school in nearby Everett to hone his craft.  Cody’s family has since warmed up to the idea and he proudly represents his ancestral homelan...

As a young child, Toom Chanda’s mother became separated from her parents during the turmoil that occurred after the Laotian Civil war ended in 1975.  More than two decades would pass before she could be reunited with her family in Wisconsin. Toom was born in Laos and immigrated to the United States as a child. He took an interest in martial arts at a young age and by his early 20’s was the owner o...

This interview was recorded prior to Lo being called up to the NFL. After the 1975 fall of governments in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia many of the resulting refugees found themselves living in the American heartland. The meatpacking industry, in particular, offered an attractive start for these new Americans with its relatively high paying jobs that didn’t require English fluency. Lo Van Pham was bo...

Billy Soksoda was born outside of Vientiane, Laos, around the time of the communist takeover. At the age of three, he fled the country with his mother and they re-settled in the United States as refugees. The family found themselves living in a tough Sacramento neighborhood, so Billy’s mom decided to move the family to Redding, a small city in California’s rural north. It was in Redding that Billy...

Scott Phaydavong was born in Des Moines, Iowa, to parents who had recently immigrated from Laos as refugees after the civil war.  Scott played running back at Des Moines East High school and went on to rush for over 5,000 yards at Drake University.  He became the first known Lao-American to play professionally when in 2009 he signed with the German Football League’s Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. While...

Kris Dim was born in Cambodia in 1973, shortly before the Khmer Rouge upended life in that country.  Between 1975 and 1979 it's estimated that up to 3 million people died in what became known as the Cambodian Genocide.  After fleeing the country with his family and resettling in the United States, Kris took up bodybuilding as a teenager in Sacramento, California.  In 2003 he earned his IFBB pro ca...

In the aftermath of the Vietnam war, the secret war in Laos, and the Cambodian genocide a wave of Southeast Asian refugees fled their homelands. They began arriving in the United States during 1975 and continued into the 1980s. While the first group was evacuated by the U.S. military most partook in a harrowing escape and transitioned through refugee camps in other Asian countries such as Thailand...