Life and death is part of the routine for Guam's hearse-driving Joey

Joey Catalig Miranda III knows that his Guam teammates have pinned a lot of 'grave' expectations on his slim shoulders. The Western Pacific island's top tenpin bowling hope is used to such ribbing from his compatriots for when he is not setting the alleys alight with his hook and spin, Joey runs a funeral parlour.

'I also drive the hearse,' he grins mischievously. 'But seriously, this job has given me another perspective on life. I have seen death so often that I have come to realise that you should live your life to the fullest,' says Joey the philosopher.

Joey, 34, a bronze medallist at the last East Asian Games in Osaka in the men's singles, is compassionate by the very nature of his job. But when the alleys start to ring to the noise of falling pins, Joey says he will transform into his ruthless alter ego.

Of Filipino extract - he was born in Guam but his parents emigrated from the Philippines - Joey is the funeral director of Our Lady of Peace, one of the many parlours in the capital Hagatna.

'I run a tenpin bowling centre, too. But when I'm not working there, I'm at the funeral parlour. I am lucky in that I see both sides of life. I see grief and sadness as well as people enjoying and having fun. These two sides to life makes me a humble person and helps me to keep my feet on the ground,' says Joey.

He is one of eight members of the Guam bowling team who carry the main hopes of the organised unincorporated territory of the United States. The rest of the small Guam contingent comprise three athletes in taekwondo, two in karate and a swimmer.

'We are a very small territory, a dot in the ocean and about the size of Macau and Taipa put together. But we hope to win a few medals at these games and I guess our best chance lies in tenpin bowling,' Joey said.