The Wahluke Identity

Small school, big issues surrounding culture and sports

MATTAWA — Trying to erase years of bottom-dwelling sports programs at Wahluke High School maybe a small task compared to the economic and cultural issues ever present in the Mattawa community.

Defining the complexion of a sports program like Mattawa takes a new angle, rather than highlighting the usual gifted athletes, passionate coaches and a strong fan base. Surely those things are found at the Wahluke High School athletics program, but more deeply rooted is the culture in a small town that is nearly 86 percent Hispanic.

Wahluke High School started in 1986 as a breakoff from the already established Royal High School. Since its opening, finding an identity and combining that identity with the everchanging community has been the main issue facing the town of Mattawa, according to Wahluke athletics director Lori Russell.

"We are a fairly new high school," Russell said. "We were built in 1986 and we aren't quite a community yet."

Russell said with the town climate still in a transition phase, and Hispanic families moving back to Mexico during the school year for work or moving back to the community late in the fall, student-athletes and the athletic programs have taken the brunt of the change.

But, Russell added, with families staying in the area and the second generation of families forming, a change in athletic support should come with it.

Helping make it a smooth transition has been the school board and superintendent who have held nothing back in supporting athletics, Russell said.

"They are just a school board and superintendent that just believe," Russell added. "This is a poor community and the school is the center of it and we need to make it the center of it."

Jeff Ahmann, head coach for the boys basketball program at Wahluke High School, said the superintendent Bill Miller's belief in extracurricular activities has been comparable to his vision of education in the small town.

Ahmann said the expectation remains like that of other programs, as long as they stay competitive.

"They want successful, well-rounded athletic programs," Ahmann said. "They do not have unreal expectations, they want you to be competitive."

Making athletics a center of Mattawa's cultural climate hasn't been easy.

Separating themselves from Royal for good may have been easy physically, but the emotional separation never took place for some residents, Russell said.

"It is not really identified," Russell said about the Mattawa community. "To a lot of people in this community, we are just a spin off of Royal."

Moreover, the community trying to find an identity may be due to the economic and cultural issues that exist in the community.

Russell said economic issues plague the parents of student athletes and results in them staying home to help raise the family while both parents work.

Where it hits the hardest has been the female athletes.

"Some of our best athletes aren't playing and that is a real tragedy," Russell added.

"Many of the Hispanic families won't let their girls play sports and some of our best athletes are having to stay home," Ahmann added. "We are trying to change and show them how it will help. We are fighting a cultural battle here."

But on the flipside, utilizing the culture flooding the Mattawa area has created instant success.

Wahluke High School adopted soccer into its program in 1995 and with it has come two state titles. Because Wahluke is a 1A program and the state of Washington has a very small percentage of schools at that level playing soccer, the Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association allowed Wahluke and other 1A schools to play at the 2A level.

Moving up to a higher level had no impact on the school. In 2000, and then again in 2004, Wahluke was crowned the 2A soccer state champions. It is the only state championship a team sport Wahluke has claimed.

"It is a Latin American sport and they get 60 kids turn out every year," Ahmann said. Ahmann added that football has been the only other sport at the school to receive high numbers of turnout, and only recently has the boys and girls basketball programs seen an increase in player support.

But when it comes to soccer, there has been no holding back.

And it could even be categorized in recent success like its counterpart Royal football, from which it has tried hard to distance itself.

"The kids love the game and they will do whatever it takes to win," said head soccer coach Tony Langdon. "The boys focus on soccer and it seems to be kind of the anticipated event of the year."

Over the last 18 years, life in Mattawa has centered around a high school trying to break ties with its ancestor and, at the same time, deal with an influx of cultural changes.

"You are dealing with some tough things, poverty and language," Russell said.