Eddie Sanchez
Desert Hot Springs High School wrestler Eddie Sánchez, who has cerebral palsy, doesn't win a lot of matches, but he relishes the improvement he is making as an athlete, The Desert Sun reports in a long feature and photo essay about him.
"Every person wants to win," Eddie said. "I'm the most competitive guy. But I've had to try to learn to accept, just like I've had to accept everything else in my life, that it's going to be harder."
Eddie uses a wheelchair to get around when he's not wrestling, and his teammates say they respect him because he's always ready to go another round and for the long hours he has put in with the coach after practice working on escapes, switches and rolls.
Eddie lost all nine of his matches during the wrestling season, but he was proud of the strength his body had gained. But most importantly, he kept his commitment to the team and made it through the entire season when other kids hadn't.
And because only three wrestlers in the 140-pound class competed in his last match, he won a third place.
Eddie says wrestling is good practice for his future as an independent adult. He plans to have a decent a job and support himself to make sure "all the sacrifices his parents made by risking their lives coming into this country weren't in vain."
