Merry Xmas – Spotlight on Cholla Wrestler Oscar Quintero
by Andy Morales on Dec. 24, 2009, under Sports
Oscar Quintero & Adrian Campuzano
In many ways Oscar Quintero is like any other 17 year old. He goes to school, he has a part-time job and he plays sports.
Oscar is also different from other boys his age in many, many ways.
He brings a sack lunch with him (usually peanut butter and jelly) to work everyday after he goes to school in the morning. He doesn’t drive to work and his mom doesn’t take him either. Oscar takes a city bus.
He finishes a couple hours of work and then catches another bus to make it to wrestling practice by 2:50 everyday. While many boys his age have a hard time getting from their last class to the gym on time, Oscar is on time everyday.
And, while many boys his age can see the hallways and their classmates on the way to practice, Oscar cannot.
Oscar is blind.
He is a senior at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind on Speedway. After he takes his morning class he “races’ to the cafeteria to pick up his sandwich and catches a city bus to work.
He worked at Earth Tones this past fall packing tiles for shipment. He will work for Safeway after the winter break.
He then makes his way to Cholla High School so he can wrestle.
“I started getting interested in wrestling in PE class in 6th grade. We didn’t have a team at ASDB so I tried to catch on at Cholla my freshman year but it didn’t work out for some reason,” said Oscar.
“I decided to try again when I was a junior and my athletic director called their athletic director and I got accepted.”
This is not unusual. St. Augustine and ASDB combined forces to form a football team and they do it successfully.
Cholla wrestling coach Rob Soza-Villanueva welcomed Oscar with open arms and, in turn, Oscar opened up his heart, “He is like a son. We take life for granted and he just opens up your heart. He is a hard worker and a caring person.”
Coach Rob Soza-Villanueva with Oscar
Freshman wrestler Adrian Campuzano did not expect to see a kid like Oscar at practice his first day, “Oscar is good for us. He’s a big help to our team. I was surprised the first day of practice but he changed my view that I can do anything even if you have a disability.”
Oscar had an opportunity on that first day of practice at Cholla to prove himself to his new friends and teammates at Cholla and he took it.
“The first day of practice we flipped over huge tractor tires. It didn’t look like Oscar wanted to do it but he told me he wanted to prove to everybody that he belonged here,” said Soza-Villanueva. Oscar stuck with it.
“We treated him just like every other athlete after that day. They see how hard he works in practice. He is a positive influence. They know that if Oscar can do it then they can do it”
Mike Hensley is one of the assistant coaches at Cholla and he also feels Oscar has a positive influence on the other boys, “ I’m in awe of his determination. When the kids have a bad day they can look at Oscar and see he still comes to practice and he comes on time.”
Many people who I spoke to for this story told me they treat Oscar just like one of the guys. It was clear to me after I spoke to Oscar, however, that he wasn’t just one of the guys. No, Oscar has a maturity and a presence that many boys his age have yet to develop.
He wrestles at 215 pounds so his physical presence is already noticed. If you look beyond his size and his obvious loss of vision you see a young man with dreams and aspirations.
Oscar knows what his future holds because he is helping to shape that future on his own terms, “I’m going to Denver for a two month living skills program so I can be more independent in the future.”
“When I get back home I will go to Pima College to study computers.”
It was also clear that he does not like to brag much about his situation or his accomplishments. Soza-Villanueva told me Oscar also wants to become a teacher and a coach. I also found out through another assistant coach that Oscar traveled to Australia to wrestle against junior athletes from New Zealand and Australia.
Billy Kalahar took Oscar and a few other wrestlers from the Western States to compete in the Down Under Sports competition in Australia. “Only one wrestler wanted to wrestle him, the rest tried to push him out of bounds,” said Kalahar. “Only a kid from New Zealand wrestled Oscar straight up.”
Oscar has seen no such problems wrestling boys at home however. He told me they have accepted him with no problems.
I witnessed his match against Sabino senior Garrett Retzer at the Mountain View Duals this past
Sabino Senior Garrett Retzer & Oscar At Mountain View
week. Retzer won the match but it was not an easy one for him.
“I feel good, he’s a great opponent. I look forward to wrestling him in regionals,” said Retzer. Retzer is coming back from a broken arm suffered during an arm chop early last year and this is his first full year of wrestling for Sabino.
“Our team is doing great and we should have a better team next year and the year after that.”
Retzer and other athletes have but one rule they have to follow when they wrestle Oscar. They cannot breakaway from him and must try to remain in contact with him for obvious reasons. “I couldn’t step back and plan my shot,” said Retzer. “I’m tired and have to get back into competition shape. He is tough.”
Fred Robles was the lead official for the invitational and knows Oscar well, “He gives us a good feeling and his vision doesn’t hold him back. Some wrestlers quit because it’s too tough but Oscar is an inspiration. As a former wrestler I have nothing but good things to say about Oscar.”
Do the officials treat him differently? “No way, he is treated just like the other athletes.”
Oscar is from Yuma and his mom, Rosina Villa still lives there because ASDB is a resident program.
During the winter break Oscar has to find someone to live with if he wants to stay in Tucson to wrestle and Soza-Villanueva has opened his home to him this year.
“My dogs love him. He is incredibly intelligent. We talk and tell jokes,” said Soza-Villanueva.
“I’ve met his friends at ASDB and they are all practical jokers and they have a lot of fun. It’s not what I expected. One time they threw a bucket of cold water on him when he was taking a shower. I’m glad that some of his friends have come over to see the program at Cholla.”
Oscar is not above playing practical jokes on his friends either. Soza-Villanueva told me that they went to pick up one of Oscar’s friends (Alexis) from ASDB and they drove up in a Prius so Alexis couldn’t hear them pull up.
Oscar told his coach to act like he was lost and ask directions to a restaurant. Alexis was perplexed but tried his hardest to help these “strangers” asking for directions. Oscar couldn’t take it anymore and told his friend who they were. Alexis let Oscar have it as he got in the car.
Oscar was rewarded the most outstanding wrestler award at the William Bell Invitational this fall (another thing Oscar didn’t tell me).
I’m not sure how many more awards he will get from wrestling. I’m not even sure if it matters if he does. I do know it matters to Oscar because he wants to compete and he wants to be treated like everyone else.
“I’m going to work at Safeway to help people,” said Oscar.
It’s a job he is good at.
Merry Christmas to our readers,
Andy amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
 |  |  |
