Our Strength

by Merelyn Valle

“My relationship with my dad can be like a lucha libre match.”

Dad: Mi más favorita cosa en el mundo, pues hasta ahorita, es mi familia.

Merelyn: What is one thing that gets you closer with your family?

[wrestling match commentator voice]: Lucharán a dos de tres caídas sin límite de tiempo!

Dad: Las luchas me encantan desde niño, cuando era niño, me ponía una mascarita con una liga y jugábamos con los primos.

Merelyn: Lucha fights play a really big role in my life, and, in my family. My dad, Gerardo Valle, has been a lucha libre fanatico since his childhood. And this passion has brought us closer to each other. My relationship with my dad can be like a lucha libre match. Since I was three, I've been a part of this intense, dramatic, and edgy world. For me, Mexican wrestling is a great sport that creates bonds to the person you're watching it with. Aside, you can also release some stress through the excitement of never knowing who is gonna beat who.

Dad: Te relajas, te vas, te desestresas, y si lo practicas es mucho major.

Merelyn: As crazy as it may sound, las luchas are relaxing, even more when you practice them, like my dad does. He does his training once in a while, but the most important thing on this sport, it would be choosing your side. Rudos or Técnicos, which one are you?

My dad and I are Rudos, but… not always was it like that. He says that since he was a child, until the birth of my older sisters, he was a Técnico. Suddenly, I got into the picture, and he switched sides. I like to call it our special bond.

Dad: Pues tratamos de llevárnosla lo más bonito en ambiente, y tratarnos con respeto.

Merelyn: The luchas has been a tradition in the Valle family ever since Mexico. My dad started to connect with the sport by seeing them on TV, putting on a mask, playing with his cousins, sneaking in during matches due to the lack of money, hoping to meet some wrestlers outside, and because there were also some wrestlers in the family.

Dad: Si, hubo dos luchadores, uno, bueno ahorita ya no, ya se murió, lo que era uno de ellos Huracán Ramírez, el otro se llamaba Mazámbula y después más tiempo hubo un primo que, que él era un luchador exótico, se llamaba Miguelón, y pues ya de allí, pues ahora yo seguí, pero ya aquí entré yo en Estados Unidos empecé a practicar la Lucha Libre.

Merelyn: So when my dad came to Chicago, he wanted to keep this tradition. Eventually, he started becoming friends with wrestlers, and, he got my sisters and I involved.

[wrestling match commentator voice]: Con ustedes, Destructor Tiuni aparece en combate el doble de Brad Pitt, el Guapito!

Merelyn: From time to time, when we go to the matches, my dad would introduce me to his luchador friends. Even sometimes, I got to meet them without a mask.

Yeah. In Mexican wrestling, some fighters use masks to keep their identity secret. I remember my first experience going to the luchas. I was feeling the excitement of it, as I was very little, but very happy I was finally a Ruda. My dad was screaming for his favorite wrestler, and I followed his steps. At the beginning, it was scary… to see the crowd, hear the screams, and see the luchadores doing their tricks in the air. I thought they were getting hurt for real, but later, I understood they are very well-trained people. And the most important thing: I was next to the real hero, my dad.

Dad: Ehh, seguí con la onda de las luchas, después nacieron mis hijas… las empecé a involucrar en el ambiente de las luchas, un ambiente bonito.

Merelyn: I love my dad and his passion. I love that he uses it to have a good quality time with us: his daughters. With me. Lucha libre matches are usually on Saturdays or Sundays, and when we go, I like to close myself in my own world. I mean our world.

Dad: Y esa tradición ha seguido ahorita, mi hija la pequeña, la llevo a todos lados, los eventos de lucha…

Merelyn: While seeing and feeling all the adrenaline of our favorite wrestlers.

Dad: Ha tenido la suerte de conocer muchos luchadores de renombre, sin máscara, he convivido con ellos es algo bonito la lucha libre, me gusta porque yo te veo que tú estás en tu ambiente a pesar de que se dicen muchas cosas fuertes, groserías, tú te encierras en tu sistema en tu ambiente, viéndolo desde otro punto de vista.

Merelyn: He said the one thing he likes is that I'm always in my world when we go to see the luchas, because, there's a lot of cursing.

Dad: Es un deporte, que cuando vas como espectador te, sales bien tranquilo de tanto estrés que traes. Allí te desahogas y es lo bonito, entonces me, me … vivo al son de la lucha libre también.

Merelyn: In the end, la lucha libre is an amazing sport that has brought me and my family closer to one another. It's our passion, our pride, our love, our time together, and our heart. And last, but not least, our bond as father and daughter.