Othello wrestlers help Basin City girl
Othello wrestler Esmer Mendez, left, accompanies Citlaly Chavarria to the center mat at Othello High School Friday.
OTHELLO - Before Othello began its wrestling matches Friday, Citlaly Chavarria was escorted to the center of the gym by wrestler Esmer Gomez.
Chavarria, a 12-year-old from Basin City with leukemia, was being introduced as an honorary coach for the Othello girls wrestling team's duals with Sunnyside, Stanwood and Royal. What she didn't expect was a check for $2,000 to hold her own dance in Basin City.
"It was amazing," girls wrestling coach JJ Martinez said. "Me and another wrestler of mine got to get to know the family over the week ... She's such a passionate girl with so much faith in her as a 12-year-old to be going through that. It was a great experience, not for us but to help her fulfill one of her dreams that she wants."
Clad in T-shirts that read "One day, one dream, one fight, one survivor," the girls wrestling team accompanied Chavarria on the center mat as she was presented with the donation.
Fund raising efforts by the team, a $1,000 donation from Simplot and various donations from other businesses helped make everything possible.
The Huskies didn't want to let their new coach down and won over 20 matches that evening.
"That Friday night was all about her," Martinez said. "It was beyond the wrestling moment, beyond the wrestling matches ... Friday night it was more about her being in our corner and having a good time and seeing her smile and I think the girls just reflected off that. We came out and I think in about 24 matches we only lost about four or five matches. The girls just were on another level. Again, it wasn't all about wrestling. It was just to see her smile and the girls fulfilled that for that night."
Chavarria's dance will be held this Saturday at the Basin City Firehall.
"It's going to one special memorable moment for her and as well as all of us who will be able to get to see her smile ... To make this happen is beyond remarkable and especially Esmer Mendez, one of my wrestlers who brought this up, to do something like this for a girl and to go through this all week," Martinez said. "She was the main reason all this happened for this little girl and the week she's had to help this family out. It shows what kind of caring person that Esmer is - not just on the mats, but off the mats as well."