Guam - The Barrigada Fitness Club soon to be known as the Barrigada Submission Center has been reaching out to our island's youth through the sport of grappling since 2009. With the help of Mayor Jesse Palican the kids have a place to train and learn self-discipline through the sport with the help of numerous instructors who give their time to teach them.

The mayor told KUAM Sports, "Getting them active in our community and being involved rather to see them out sitting idol or getting in trouble. This is such a beautiful program because they are mostly volunteering their time and also all the donations that you see regarding gloves and the mats, they are just accepting any kind of donations and they are playing a big part in our community. We deal with about 900 kids through out the year in our sports programs so this is an added feature to all the kids that look forward to coming down to our center, being part of our community and being involved in a positive way."

The gym is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays from 7-9pm, with instructors who give back to the community free of charge. The program is free to the youth and anyone willing to come out and train and learn more about the sport of grappling.

John Garcia said, "Nobody here are certified instructors; we've just all been through different gyms, through different experiences. We all understand the art of grappling and we have all came from different gyms and we want to do this for the community so our main goal really is to just get the youth involved as a way of fitness and any little help we can get is more than welcomed and well appreciated."

The gym will be holding a fundraiser this Friday from 6-10pm at The Venue in Hagatna to help flip the cost of getting new mats and other gym equipment for the kids. If you would like to reach out and lend a hand you can contact Kinny Blas at 482-2629 or Kevin at 868-4765 to make a donation or to purchase tickets for the fundraiser.