Tad’s (and Team’s) Terrific Weekend

As Tad Inoue puts it, “It was the greatest weekend of my life.” And, I was glad to be a part of it. Tad, AKA “The Diet Coach”, and 11 of his clients, were at my final Junior Cal Bodybuilding, Figure and Bikini Championships last weekend at the Rosemead High School Auditorium.  My District Chairman, Jaguar Jon Lindsay, has granted me a National Qualifier, starting next season. Am working on the new name right now-“West Coast Classic” is my first choice. Stay tuned for updates on the show, and its title.
Obviously, “Team Tad” played a major role in the recording of my second highest number of competitors ever-in total, 80 signed up, 77 ended up on stage, with 44 more crossovers.
In addition to four first place finishes, all 11 landed in the top five. Danny Siebert, in rock hard condition, cruised to the Light Heavyweight, and Overall crowns in the Unlimited Men’s category; Jenna Boyer won Figure B, with Jami DeBernard taking both the Figure C and Masters 35+ Tall class categories. And, Boyer and DeBernard finished second and third, respectively, behind Sunny Daye in the hotly contested Figure Overall battle.
But, Inoue’s biggest moment was yet to come. As Tad was scrambling around at the end of the show, handing out his well wishes, brother Asao (they are of Japanese/Hawaiian decent) ran up to him and said “Bro, your wife is going into labor-we have to run.” Since Tad’s wife, Bern,  wasn’t due for about two weeks-July 3 was the target date-this was quite startling news.
“Asao has gotten a call from his wife, who was with my wife  and they were heading for the hospital at that moment,” Tad says. “So I ran on stage and yelled to my competitor Danny (Siebert) that we had to run because I was going to have a baby!
“My brother and I booked on down the freeway and made it Temecula in about 45 minutes. I got to the hospital, only to have to wait until the next morning-Father’s Day, no less!-to received my beautiful baby girl. Her name is Kiana Bernadette Inoue, and she weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces. What a wonderful Father’s Day blessing!”
Since this was my first year at Rosemead High (the first 10 events were held at Pasadena City College), I entered the weekend with some anxiety, but the show went extremely well.
And, “Team John Balik” was represented very well too-by yours truly, JB himself, Roland Balik, who came all the way in from Delaware just to see the show (okay, he was out here for Father’s Day, a video production seminar and a car show, but he was still at the contest!), Ruthless Ruth Silverman and, of course, ace photog Merv. In addition, IM correspondent Dave Liberman, and girlfriend Linda Reho, a top NPC Figure competitor in her own right, came all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, to support the contest.
During the prejudging, Roland shot video, while Ruthless and I conducted about 10 interviews. The most entertaining was my dialogue with Katie the Dog, the 14-year-old, foot-long Toy Pincher who made the trip from Dallas, Texas, with mother June, to help out with the event. Katie was sharp as a whip with her responses, too-check out this classic video, as well as all the others, at the site soon.
Over, under, and out!