Julius Naranjo

Julius Irvin Hikaru T. Naranjo (born 14 June 1991) is a Guamanian weightlifter, coach, and filmmaker. He competed for Guam in the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and coaches Filipino Olympic weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.

Julius Naranjo
Personal information
Full nameJulius Irvin Hikaru T. Naranjo
CitizenshipAmerican / Filipino
Born (1991-06-14) June 14, 1991
Tamuning, Guam, U.S.
EducationBachelor of Science Exercise Science and Health Promotions with a Minor in Nutrition from the University of Guam
ASCA Level 1
IWF Advanced Coaching Certificate Holder
Alma materFather Duenas Memorial School
OccupationWeightlifter, Coach, filmmaker
Sport
Country Guam
SportWeightlifting
Now coachingHidilyn Diaz

Early life and education

Julius Irvin Hikaru T. Naranjo is the eldest son of a Filipino father and Japanese mother and has 3 younger siblings.

Naranjo had earned his Bachelor of Sciences in Exercise Science & Health Promotions with a minor in Nutrition at the University of Guam in 2013.

Weightlifting career

Naranjo had represented Guam's National Weightlifting Team and is a record holder in the old 69kg weight category.[1] He had represented Guam at the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games[2] in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan competing in the 62kg weight category.[3][4]  

A career-ending back injury forced Naranjo's retirement.

Coaching career

After retiring from competitive weightlifting, Naranjo turned to coaching. During his athletic career, Naranjo was also managing a functional fitness facility and physical therapy clinic, where he had coached classes and did strength & conditioning for various clients including students and Guam national athletes.

Naranjo as of 2020, is currently a weightlifting coach, strength & conditioning coach, and team manager for Team HD,[5] the Olympic Core team for Hidilyn Diaz[6] who is preparing to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo which is now postponed to July 2021.[7]

Naranjo and Hidilyn Diaz, along with their Head Coach Kaiwen Gao are currently training in Malaysia[8] as lockdowns and the current situation of COVID-19 around the world have created a difficult situations for all Olympic Bound athletes. They have been featured on TFC News[9] with an update of their current situation and how they are continuing to train towards the 2021 Olympics.

Naranjo also does remote coaching for weightlifting athletes and has built a good following from his coaching and weightlifting videos with more than 20,000 followers on his Instagram.[10]

Filmmaking career

Aside from being a coach, Naranjo is also a filmmaker who co-founded the Collective Culture[11] and also promotes the sport of weightlifting on Instagram and Facebook.

Naranjo had worked for just over a year as a production artist and had been a Director of Photography for a number of productions[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] with Docomo Pacific, a telecommunication company based in Guam.

Naranjo and Hidilyn Diaz have collaborated through Collective Culture to help spread her advocacy by spreading awareness of weightlifting by creating documentaries such as Move to Inspire[19][20] and Lifters for Lifters.[21]

Naranjo has recently collaborated with Malaysian/Filipino singer Yazmin Aziz as a filmmaker for her news segment on TFC News Asia and aiding with a number of projects for her music.[22][23][24][25][26]

Personal life

Naranjo is currently dating Hidilyn Diaz and both had been featured together in various Philippine television programs. This includes an episode of Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho in GMA where their romantic relationship was featured.[27] They were also featured on Sports U[28] and Magandang Buhay[29] of ABS-CBN. Naranjo is also Diaz's assistant weightlifting and strength and conditioning coach helping Diaz potentially clinch the Philippines' first Olympic gold medal.[30]

References
  1. Tomas, Jojo Santo. "Meet Guam's Team for the Asian Indoor Games: Weightlifting". Pacific Daily News. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  2. Post, Matt Weiss | The Guam Daily. "Guam posts mixed results in Asian Indoor Games". The Guam Daily Post. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  3. "Athletes - International Weightlifting FederationInternational Weightlifting Federation". www.iwf.net. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  4. "Julius Naranjo represents Guam in Asian Indoor Games". www.guampdn.com. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  5. ""I will remain focused and determined" - Hidilyn Diaz' powerful message to the Philippines". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  6. Solon, Pio (2020-04-18). "Solon: How an elite athlete trains through the ECQ". Sunstar. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  7. "Tokyo Olympics officially postponed until 2021". ESPN.com. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  8. "Hidilyn Diaz gets timely MVPSF financial aid to boost Olympic bid". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  9. Hidilyn Diaz, muling nagbigay karangalan sa Pilipinas | TFC News, retrieved 2020-08-09
  10. "Julius Irvin 光 Naranjo 🇬🇺 (@imjulius) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  11. "About Us – Collective Culture". collective-culture.co. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  12. Say Hello Rota Final, retrieved 2020-08-09
  13. STATUS: SINGLE - Docomo Pacific Valentines' 2018, retrieved 2020-08-09
  14. Mothers Day 2018, retrieved 2020-08-09
  15. Austins Story, retrieved 2020-08-09
  16. DOCOMO PACIFIC - Marianas Way, retrieved 2020-08-09
  17. Father's Day 2018, retrieved 2020-08-09
  18. DOCOMO PACIFIC - Data to Go, retrieved 2020-08-09
  19. Move to Inspire: Sacrifices, retrieved 2020-08-09
  20. Move to Inspire: For The Love, retrieved 2020-08-09
  21. Lifters For Lifters, retrieved 2020-08-09
  22. HIDILYN DIAZ, MULING NAGBIGAY KARANGALAN SA PILIPINAS, retrieved 2020-08-09
  23. TFC O THE FILIPINO CHANNEL, TULOY ANG SERBISYO KAHIT PRANGKISA NG ABS-CBN, HINDI NA-RENEW, retrieved 2020-08-09
  24. Laging handa na maglingkod para sa mga Pilipino ang TFC News Asia-Pacific!, retrieved 2020-08-09
  25. "Yazmin Aziz". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  26. "Gina Frias". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  27. "Weighlifting golden girl Hidilyn Diaz also wins at love". GMA News Online. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  28. News, ABS-CBN. "Sports U: Kapwa weightlifter nabihag ang puso ni Olympian Hidilyn Diaz". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  29. "Julius feels giddy about Hidilyn's mention of having a baby | Magandang Buhay - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  30. "Hidilyn Diaz: Winning SEAG gold is my personal goal". ESPN.com. 2019-11-07. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.