From the [Palm Springs, California] Desert Sun:

Extended feature on a high school wrestler with cerebral palsy. Eddie Sanchez contributed to his team and played the entire season to proceed as an alternate to the California Interscholastic Federation divisional tournament.

An excerpt:

Over the past several weeks, Eddie’s black-and-white vision of winning and losing has expanded to include more complex shades. Something changed. Maybe winning wasn’t everything.

There were small victories and not-so-small victories, too, like being part of a team, and earning respect.

Maybe by wrestling he might help someone else like him, he thought. Maybe others will risk embarrassment and humiliation and take the same chance he did. He hoped so.

It’s all practice anyway, for the ultimate test: living a normal, independent life. Eddie’s expectations are to have a job and support himself. He wants to make sure all the sacrifices his parents made by risking their lives coming into this country weren’t in vain.

One day, his parents won’t be there for him. He doesn’t expect or want to depend on them or his older sister, Celeste.

“For me, success is being able to say after tests in life, I’m able to stand on my own two feet,” Eddie said. “And, at least, have an apartment and have a steady job that doesn’t involve me washing dishes or saying, ‘Do you want fries with that?’

“Success is being able to say that I live in a society that doesn’t really include me as much as it should, but I’m here, and while I’m here you guys will have to listen to what I say and do.”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 8:18 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, cerebral palsy, exercise/sports, personal stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.