The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Paul 'Mighty Mouse' Wilson, competing overseas for the second time this year, won the men's lightweight of the 2017 NPC California State Championships in Culver City, California.

It was Wilson's first appearance in a championship outside of the state of Florida and he left his mark in the 154 1/4 -pound class on May 27 as he won the divisional title over Aidan Acuff, who was second. Steven Mendoza came in third and Pete Yamamoto was fourth.

"This was the biggest and the most prestigious show in the state of California because it qualified any resident or American to the USA National Championships," Wilson said. "So I just wanted to go there and see how well I could compete against the competitors over there."

As it turned out, Wilson surprised himself and his rivals. He was the lone Bahamian competing in the championships, but Wilson said he didn't let that deter him.

"When you go to competitions like this, you don't know who you will compete against," said Wilson, who has won a couple of titles competing in the Florida State Championships in the past.

"At the end of the end of the day, you are competing against yourself and you just hope that your performance is good enough to pull it off."

Wilson, coming off his bronze medal in his first meet in March in Santo Domingo as he made his return after a year off, said he was prepared for the challenge in California.

"When I saw the competition, I kind of knew that I had a chance to win my division," he stated. "But I was hoping to win the overall title too, but of course with me being a smaller bodybuilder, that didn't come to fruition."

Being a fresh new face on stage, Wilson said he stunned the audience and impressed the judges with his performance.

"The physique that I had and the quality that I brought to the show in that class, to be a lightweight, but to be bigger than an averaged lightweight, they were really surprised," he said.

"Since the event, I've gotten a lot of feedback on my social apps like Instagram and WhatsApp. I made a lot of friends over there and they congratulated m. telling me that they've never seen poses like that and the quality that I brought to the lightweight class."

Wilson said he was in awe of the accolades he got because he rarely gets it from home. But he said it's also given him the motivation to continue to compete against his rivals here.

"Now, I've gotten the exposure upstate and I've gotten the exposure in the region, so I'm going to continue to push hard because I have a lot more to do this year," he said.

"It all depends on what the new (Free National Movement) government will do for our federation because we need the support to compete in more international events."

Right now, Wilson is waiting on the verdict from Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation president Joel Stubbs on exactly when the National Bodybuilding Championships will take place.

The event is normally held between July and August as it serves as the federation's final qualification for the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships.

This year's CAC Championships is scheduled for September 28 to October 1 in Mexico and Wilson is confident that he will be a member of the national team that will represent the country.

"The CAC is supposed to be a big event this year because it's going to be in a Spanish-speaking country," Wilson said. "A lot of the Spanish-speaking countries normally come to that competition, so we will definitely have more competitors in this show than we had when it was held here or in Bermuda or Barbados."

Wilson said it takes a village to grow an individual up, but it takes a nation to build a champion and he expressed his gratitude to Vitamalt, Gunite Pools, and Island Luck, who all helped to sponsor his trip to California.

"It's so disappointing that as an amateur athlete, people have to see you win before they can invest in you," he pointed out. "We lose a lot of our local talent because a lot of them are discouraged when they approach the local businesses to get themselves started."

But he said he said all he wants is to get a chance to compete and he knows that he can bring in the success.