Emma Gonzalez
Staff Writer
The University held a Luchadores, a wrestling performance event, Tuesday outside the Ludwick Center. Around 200 people attended the Campus Activities Board-sponsored event to celebrate Latino heritage.
Wrestlers in masks and costumes put on a show for students with Mexican music in the background. Vendors offered esquites, a type of Mexican candy; paletas, icy popsicles; and bucket hats.
The event was part of the University’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. Hispanic Heritage Month runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
Event coordinator Luna Cuevas, sophomore kinesiology major, said she was inspired by the movie “Nacho Libre” to put on this event.
The luchador wrestlers are actually paid actors in a choreographed show.
The event, and such wrestling in general, is more than people fighting, they explained. Wrestling is also about the storytelling and the characters portrayed in the practice.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it’s fake,’ and the stunts are real, that’s one thing I love about it,” luchador Tim Valdovinos, aka Timmy Handsome, said. “You got good guys, bad guys, you got the tweeners, the people that are struggling with being either the good guy or bad guy.”
Wrestlers come from various backgrounds with a shared interest of telling a story.
“I’ve seen all kinds of people (wrestle),” Valdovinos said. “Anyone can learn how to wrestle,”
“I’m someone who didn’t grow up going to Mexico,” said Lucia Baltazar-Sanchez, sophomore biology major, who attended the Tuesday event. “I …always lived in the United States and never got to be in touch with my culture as much as other Hispanics (who) would tell me about the trips when they went to Mexico in the summer, and I couldn’t have that growing up, so I hold on to small events like this.”
Emma Gonzalez can be reached at emma.gonzalez@laverne.edu.
Emma Gonzalez is a junior communications major with a concentration in public relations and a minor in marketing, and a staff writer for the Campus Times. Her interests include community involvement, art, traveling and writing. Emma’s long-term career objective revolves around working for a nonprofit organization that is passionate about helping a target group of individuals. Follow her on Handshake.
Liberty Belle is a senior photography major and marketing minor. She is also the photography editor of the Campus Times. She has previously served as photography editor of La Verne Magazine and a staff photographer for both publications.
