Everyone felt like kids again, like the boys and girls that Tomás Quesada trains and coaches every week on the small beach of Playa Blanca, which was decorated this Friday with a setup for great moments, and it was indeed, the town's tribute to the figure and career of the coach of the Canarian Wrestling School of the town.
Quesada has trained several generations of athletes, teaching wrestling positions and transmitting secrets of hand-to-hand combat in the arena. He has also been concerned with helping hundreds of boys and girls to become better people for more than four decades. In the same setting that hosted his well-deserved tribute, with emotions still running high, he confessed: "The truth is that I didn't expect so much, and I feel like I'm like the little kids, on cloud nine. It's true that I know I have a lot of people around me who support me, but it has been incredible, it has cost me my tears for all of them, for everything they say, and for everything they have appreciated me and continue to appreciate me."
Surrounded by his children, Arantxa, Alejandro, and Javier, with the unforgettable memory of his wife Juana María Valiente (R.I.P.), responsible, out of love, for his move from Arrecife to Playa Blanca, and supported by residents of Yaiza, and of course, by the family of Canarian wrestling from Lanzarote, Tomás Quesada experienced a dream afternoon with countless expressions of affection and admiration firsthand. Not only by the people, but also through the documentary video projected on the same beach, in addition to the gifts from the Yaiza City Council, the Lanzarote Council, the Canarian Wrestling Federation, sports clubs, wrestlers, and athletes' families who materialized their gratitude to Tomás Quesada.
The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, highlighted "his unwavering commitment and passion for instilling sporting and personal values for 40 years. This tribute to Tomás is more than deserved, filled with emotion, speaking from his first students who are now men and women, from his children who continue to come to train with him, and not only to learn about wrestling, our vernacular sport, but to learn values, values such as discipline and respect always for the opponent. We are very proud to have organized this tribute through the Department of Sports with the support of the Lanzarote Council and the collaboration of our town of Playa Blanca."
For his part, Ángel Lago, Yaiza's Councilor for Sports, whom Tomás referred to in the tribute as one of his sports children, since he was under his orders like many boys and girls from the youth academy of Canarian wrestling in the south of the Island, maintained that "Tomás has marked the history of many people, the history and the lives of many boys and girls, of many athletes; he is a benchmark not only in Yaiza and Lanzarote, but throughout the Canary Islands because he is a noble man who has given and continues to give everything out of pure love for sports and his town." Yaiza presented Tomás Quesada with a canvas with his image as the protagonist painted by the plastic artist Celestino Mesa.
The Councilor for Sports of the Island Council, Juan Monzón, also joined in the words of recognition, pointing out that "Tomás has been very excited with memories of yesteryear and the affection of his people, so we are delighted that he enjoys these moments and continues to enjoy wrestling, which is also a sign of our Canarian culture and identity."
And there's Tomás for a while. Half jokingly, he assured that "they shouldn't think that the tribute is an early retirement," he is clear: "I now have more desire than ever to continue with the children, to know that I have so many people supporting me, and I am going to give more than I am giving in the work for my municipality and Canarian wrestling and on this fabulous beach that is the best field in the world."
The tribute event, presented by the young teacher Raquel Rodríguez, featured the musical performance of Sondemar and a friendly fight between two combined teams, one, the Brisa Marina, made up of wrestlers from Yaiza, and the other, Casa Salvador, by wrestlers from different municipalities of Lanzarote, which ended with a victory for the locals led by Tomás Quesada himself. Playa Blanca expressed its immense affection and gratitude to a man of life lessons from Canarian wrestling, who more than a monitor, has also been a father to many.
