ALL IN THE FAMILY

For the Lopez clan, wrestling is a story of growth and transformation

Juan Lopez uses words like “princess” and “fragile” to describe his daughter Olivia when she was younger. Given what Olivia has become, the words come with a chuckle.

Less amused are the wrestlers, boys and girls, who have found themselves on the business end of an Olivia Lopez takedown and pin on a wrestling mat.

At Hamilton High School in Anza, the Lopezes are the first family of girls wrestling. Juan is the head coach, Olivia is a senior coming off a third-place finish at the CIF State meet and Evelyn is a fast-rising freshman with postseason aspirations of her own.

For each, the story of their wrestling history is a story of growth and transformation.

Juan’s own wrestling career began with constant failure but ended with a fifth-place finish at

state. Olivia began as a gradeschool girl being harassed by classmates to becoming one of the top wrestlers in her class. Evelyn is on her way to transforming from a wrestler relying

on being, in her father’s words, “so strong, so tough and so mean” to a more polished competitor with a big future.

The Lopez wrestling story began in San Bernardino, where

Juan was getting in and out of trouble before the family moved to Lompoc. Directed to wrestling by his father, Juan found some friends but not an easy fit.

“I think the coach wanted me to quit,” Juan said. “I was pretty much dead weight on the team. I lost every match.”

Quitting might have made some sense, but the other wrestlers on the Cabrillo High School team were his only friends. So he kept putting the work in and, by his junior season, it began to turn around. Still, winding up at the state podium came as a shock.

“It taught me,” he said, “that if you stick with something and put your mind into it, and you care about it and are disciplined about it, you can achieve better things than you ever thought were possible.”

Those lessons stayed with him when he later turned to coaching, and he tried to convey them to his students, eventually including his daughters.

PHOTOS BY NICK KOON Wrestling coach Juan Lopez, middle, and his daughters Olivia, left, and Evelyn. Juan Lopez is a former wrestler who now coaches his girls.

Juan Lopez is the wrestling coach at Hamilton High in Anza, and daughters Olivia and Evelyn both compete on the team.