1980

My journey starts with the sacrifice of my oldest sister Mary, without her I would not be here today. She was about 18 years old at the time and the Communist Party was taking over the country. Life became tough, my mom and dad were struggling as a family to put food on the table for seven kids before I was born. Therefore, she decided to escapes Laos to come to America to provide for the family. On the day that she left, she never told anyone, my mother was the last person that saw her. Knowing my mother, she must have been horrified when my sister never came back home. She and a group of people, who had connections with people in Thailand, crossed the Mekong River into the Thailand border on a boat in the middle of the night to get to the refugee camp. But before they got off the boat, they were stopped by the border patrol and she was held at gun point. For some reason she was lucky enough to be carrying someone’s little child with her so the patrol officer let her go. Several years later, after surviving refugee camps in Thailand and Philippines she was able to come to America. Ten years later, she sponsored my mom and me to live with her. They choose me because I was the youngest and they believe I could adapt to the culture quicker than my older siblings. Hence, I could do well in school and have a good job, thus help support the whole family back home. For years I didn’t understood why they choose me instead of my older sister, who was so much smarter in school than I am and for a long time I felt the burden of not chosen school over Badminton. I just hope they can see in the big picture that no matter how long it takes I will take care of the family. Therefore, they did not make a mistake of chosen me. If it wasn’t for the sacrifice of my sister, I would still be in Laos right now just like these kids in the picture, not knowing what lies beyond these dirt streets. I was just like these kids here when I was growing with no shoes, no shirt just hanging around kicking up dust. The picture was taken in 2003 and thirteen years after I left, it's still the same.

1985

This is the earliest picture of me as far as I know; it was of my second oldest sister sitting next to me and our relative standing. I was around four years old in the picture. I did not discover that picture until I was twenty four years old, as a result I did not recognize who that little boy was until my mother told me. It was sent to my mother from Laos while I was living in Orange County, California. I guess I was busy traveling to tournaments at that time and never really had a chance to visit them as often. To this day, I still have a hard time believing that little kid was me.

1988

This is a picture of my family about two years before I move to the United States. I heard rumors that I was going to America and thought we were taking a helicopter there. I bought miniature army men with parachutes attached to their backs so I could drop them from the sky. I was seven years old. My mom was not in the picture because she was visiting my oldest sister in the States that year and my oldest brother was living with his wife’s family at the time. Until now we still haven't had a full family picture together. After this picture I had malaria and was in the hospital for two weeks, I remember it vaguely but my family told me that I almost didn't make it.

1990

Below is a picture of the family reunion a month after I move to the Rockville, Maryland from Laos. I only had one or two sets of clothing with me and those clothes I had on in the picture was probably my brother-in-laws’. Our relatives came from Chicago and Fort Smith, Arkansas to visit. I had pizza for the first when we all went to Washington, D.C and I throw it back up because I never ate cheese before. I also throw up on the flight to the U.S. because I tried milk for the first time. Milk means Ovaltine in Laos, so when my mom asks me if I wanted milk, I was like “YEAH” couple of seconds later, it was all over the aisle. Dairy products were non existence when I was growing up, sticky rice, salt and eggs were the norm. If I had my shirt off in the last picture you can tell that my stomach was big, not because I was fat but because I was malnourished.

1992

These are the pictures from my 1992 Junior Nationals at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. It’s ironic how four years later I would be invited to train at this same place. The picture on the left is of my first doubles partner (Trevor Lai) and me, playing in the under 11 boy's doubles finals. Mrs. Lai ask my brother-in-law if I would play doubles with Trevor after the prior year's Junior Nationals. That's how we knew of each other and became instant best friends. He lived in Massachusetts, so for a couple of years I would go to stay at his place to train together every summer for about a month until we both moved to Colorado Springs.

1995

This is a picture of Trevor and me with the “Andre Aggasi” of Badminton (Ardy Wiranata) of Indonesia. He has an unusual playing style and personality yet he has won every major tournament during his time. He was favored to win the Olympic Gold in the Barcelona Olympics but lost out to his teammate Alan Kusuma in the finals. My brother-in-law was my first coach, he brought me to play Badminton at a nearby recreation center in Bauer Drive after he got off work about two to three times a week. He also trained Amy and Vincent Nguy, all became very good players. When I got really good, he pushed me even harder. I would be playing four to five times a week and most of the time I wouldn't come home until 11 o'clock at night. I was usually exhausted the next day at school. He would buy a treadmill for me to run on, a pull-up bar that could attached to door ways, made me jump rope and run sprints. I would run along the sidewalks while challanging the cars that came by. He pushed me to do; push ups, sit ups, practice my backhand by just swinging at nothing. He was pretty harsh on us using a very empathic tone of voice, but he made us all Junior Champions. And one thing I hate the most was watching badminton tapes and have him analyze the game to me, which made no sense to me because I was 12 years old. I would be watching legendary players such as; Ardy, Yang Yang, and my favorite player to watch was Foo Kok Yung of Malaysia, because he fights and dives for every shot. I got a lot of my style from him. But as a kid, I just wanted to play video games or go play with my friends. I didn't have much of a childhood, if I wasn't doing Badminton training I was watching my two niece and nephew. made me watch him on the video tapes thousands of times so he was one of my favorite player in world. Who knew three years later he would be my coach at the Olympic Training Center.

1996

This is a picture of Trevor, Brandon and me with some of the Indonesian Olympic team member in the food court at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Trevor’s mom was the line judge for Badminton so she invited me to come along with her family to watch the Summer Olympics. We watched the Dream Team in Basketball, Tennis on one day, but most of the time we watch Badminton. I saw my favorite Basketball player at the time, David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs while we were watching Tennis so I ask to take a picture with him. I was only up to his waist. When he walked away I told him to check out Badminton. Too bad I have no idea what I did with that picture. That was a great experience; I was in awe to see all the famous athletes in person. I love sports and always admire these athletes that I’ve seen on Television and this Summer I will be their teammates.

1998

The picture on the right was of a two week World Badminton Academy program where coaches and players from all over the world work come together to share their knowledge of the game and training styles, while at the same it was a great chance to spar with different players and grade yourself compare to the rest of the international players.

The bottom picture was of (James Young, Adam “Buffalo” Holleran, Trevor Lai and Me) in our teenage years posing and trying to act cool. We nickname Adam “Buffalo” because when he plays, he looks like a water buffalo on the court. We just called him “buff” for short. Peter Collins was missing in that picture because originally it was Peter Collins, Adam, Trevor and Me that was Originally invited to join the national team in 1996 as a developmental group. James Young only came for a short period of time. At that time there were around thirty Badminton players that were full timers and some coming in and out of the Olympic Training Center from all over the U.S. We live, train and eat at the complex together along side various sports, it was a great atmosphere. Now that I look back, we took many things for granted there. The first few years there, I was unable to live in the dorms with the rest of my teammates because I didn’t have a green card yet. As a result, I was living with a host family about fifteen miles away. I remember spending lots of nights sleeping over Howard and Trevor’s room so I didn’t have to ride my bike in the snow going to school. Howard was a senior in our high school and was driving a 1987 Hyndai hatchback. He would drive us to school every morning. But most of the time I would wrapped myself up with lots of layers and would put on a black hoodie that cover my whole face leaving just two holes for the eyes to see, kind of like what a bank robber would wear to rob a bank. If you ever seen the movie, “Dumb and Dumber” when Jim Carey’s character was riding a scooter to Aspen in the freezing cold. That was me for the first year in Colorado. After awhile, it became second nature to me to ride my bike in the snow. Once, I was clear to move in the dormitory with the rest of the athletes, it was so much easier. I was able to work at a mixture of places such as Mr. Field’s Cookies, Boston Burrito, and The Olympic Training Center’s Cafeteria in the summer and sometimes in between practice.

2002

In the year 2000, our national team relocated to Orange County Badminton Club. Majority of the players moved on with their life; some went back to finish college and some started a new career. Only a few us (Kevin Han, Howard Bach, and Eric Go) continued training full time. My family in Maryland wanted me to stop playing because they saw that Badminton players can not make a living. For that reason, they wanted me to come back to Maryland and finish start focusing on school so I can help provide for the family back in Laos. My brother-in-law even wanted me to stop because he thought I should be number in the U.S by then and should be challenging world class players. On top of that I had to support myself if I wanted to continue playing. Thus, the summer of 2000 was a big decision making time for me, I had just graduated high school and didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I was away from home for a very long time and was used to my independence. Although, my mom and sisters always offer me money every time I came to visit, sometimes I get away with not accepting it but lot’s of times they would put it in a red envelope so you can’t refuse. That’s one of the reason I didn’t want to go home because I always felt guilty for taking their money and going back home to me was a sign of failure. I wanted to show them that I could survive on my own. Peter, Adam and Trevor however, decided to move back to their state so that’s how I ended up in Orange, California. With the help of Mr. Chew, who provided me with a place stay at the Badminton Club for a few years and also providing me with a job helping K&D Graphic printing company, and waiter at Bebe’s Café part-time. I was able to make just enough to get by.

When we were training in Colorado, my goal was to win Adult Nationals when or before I turn eighteen. The closest I got was in the finals of the Men’s Doubles in 2000 with Amarit Rojisirivit, we got destroyed by a more experience team. I was nineteen, with no national title to show for. My progression was not going as well as I had hoped, so not until Tony Gunawan came in early 2002, that I saw some improvement in my play. Howard and Kevin just started to play together to qualify for the 2004 Olympics so Tony didn’t really have anyone to partner. I was the next best player so I was very lucky. (Tony won two world titles, gold medal in 2000 Olympics, and almost if not all the major tournaments in the Badminton Circuit) He and I teamed up to win the 2002 U.S Open in Men’s Doubles. That was the first Grand Prix win of my career; it was bitter sweet because we had to face Kevin and Howard in the finals. Tony and I continued playing together up until the end of 2004. To me we had great results in winning 1* tournaments and reaching the quarter-finals of the 5* Singapore Open but to Tony it was not what he is used to. I think at that time I was not ready to be a champion yet; I didn’t have confidence in myself and didn’t believe I belong in the circuit. I was overwhelmed; here I was playing all these professionals that I idolized growing up and seeing them on video tapes. As a result, we lost a lot of heartbreaking three setters to teams in the top ten of world and I felt like I was the weak link. I contemplate the thought of quitting after every loss because if you can’t win partnering the best player in the world how can you win with anybody else right? I had lots of sleepless nights thinking about my future, I was 23 years old without a college degree, with no money, and away from my family for so long. Thank goodness for Linda, Perry, Tony and Eti, who kept me motivated, include me into their plans, and assured me that everything will be alright no matter happens. They reminded me to work hard to make the 2008 Olympics and doors of opportunity will open. Sure enough it paid off.

2003

This is the picture of the Villa Park high school Badminton team when we won the CIF Team Championships on my first year as head coach. I was an assistant coach to Don Van for two years before taking over as head coach for next four years. The team won two years prior to that while I was an assistant coach. I helped continue the wining tradition for four more before I decide to retire as high school coach to concentrate on my own Badminton career. I had a great experience coaching the kids, seeing their improvements year after year was rewarding. However, I couldn’t train at 100 percent everyday. As a result, in the middle of 2006 after receiving my AA degree from Santa Ana College, I put everything hold to concentrate just on Badminton and pursue my Olympic dream.

This picture was of my two sisters and me. They came from Laos to watch me compete in the Thailand Open in Bangkok. It was the first time I have seen them since I’ve left my country. I had mixed feelings because I didn’t know what to expect or how it will turn out when I see them. My Laotian is very limited and it's hard for me to explain myself in Lao language. They met all my teammates there and we went out to eat and shop at MBK together. My two sisters had to travel by the train from Vientiane to Bangkok and it took them 12 long hours which they said was very uncomfortable, nevertheless it was a lot cheaper than flying, furthermore, and I don't believe they have ever been on a plane before either. My sister on the left was afraid of the escalator because she has never been on one before so it took her about ten seconds until she got the timing right, there would be a huge gap between us and the people in front of us. After shopping, when we all went out with everyone for dinner but they didn’t seemed like themselves. Then I found out that they weren’t comfortable using the utensils because back home they just use their hands to eat. I guess you just have to realize that they came from a place where the streets has no names and to this day it is still dirt road, kid’s don’t wear shoes not because they don’t want to, but it's because the can’t afford to. I remember when I was young, I would have fist full of sticky rice and I would put salt in the center and make it into a ball and that was my meal. However, on a good day it was one piece of meat or fish and a whole lot of rice.

2007

This is a picture of Raj, Apolo, and me at the green room of the show “Dancing with the Stars” Apolo and I go way back to our Olympic training center days. I think we met in 1997 before he exploded into a mega superstar by winning Gold and Silver at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He loved to play Badminton; he would stop by to our practices almost everyday to play with us or brought his friends over. At that time no one on the team had any idea that he would be the face of the Winter Olympics. We became instant friends because we share the same interests in sports and music. About a year later, Raj was invited to train with us and I introduce them to each other. Thus, they became very good friends and still keep in touch almost on a regular basis.

2008