"IT'S MY DREAM, IT'S MY FOCUS AND NOW IT'S MY LIFE."

This is the voice of Nick Mita, 20, explaining the biggest decision of his young life. Nick is a student athlete turned professional surfer, and a local moving to Japan. Nick is the product of Honolulu's Maryknoll School, a strict environment that provided him with the opportunity to study hard and excel in soccer and baseball. At the age of 14 the Ocean began to draw Nick away from the practice fields. Six years later and his intensity and competitive drive have been channeled into surfing and the rest as they say, "is history." Nick can surf with the best and in the coming year he will move to Japan to compete on the JPSA Surfing tour. In his words, "I'm living my dream and I plan to make the most of it."

Indeed, Nick has made a huge decision, one that will force him to step outside of his comfort zone; learn to live in a foreign country, surf in cold water and be completely on his own. In short, Nick is on a mission, he plans to "blow up" to become SOMEBODY and WIN BIG. To accomplish his goals, Nick will need the clarity, awareness and commitment needed to achieve excellence.

Clarity: Nick is clear; "My ultimate goal by moving to Japan is to win their highest competitive award and bring it home to Hawaii and at the same time have fun doing it."

Awareness: Nick is aware; "There are definitely going to be a lot of distractions while I'm there (in Japan), yet I know that I need to maintain my focus. If it isn't going to help me to surf better, I'm not into it. I want to make the most of this incredible opportunity, so I'm going to HANDLE these distractions... For sure!"

Commitment: Nick is committed; "I'm going to dedicate myself to train hard and do things that will help me to win in Japan."

Excellence: KEEP IT SIMPLE: A true performer loves the "spotlight" and thrives under pressure. Nick says: "I know that dedication, sacrifice, and the passion that I have for surfing will allow me to handle the pressure and perform at my best. My sponsors have given me an incredible opportunity to live my dream, my friends have pushed me to surf better, and my family has nothing but support for me. I want to thank all of them for everything they've done for me and I will not let them down. More than anything, I want to represent Hawaii in a positive way and bring home the JPSA Surfing title." That's HiLevel! Good luck from all of us at HiSurf.