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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2022)
E AST O REGONIAN THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS A9 SHARING HIS LOVE OF SOCCER Varela takes over Pendleton girls program By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian P ENDLETON — When Murillo Varela was a young boy growing up in Brazil, he and his friends would take a woman’s nylon stock- ing, fi ll it full of rags, shape it and use it as a soccer ball. “It was a pretty decent way to play,” Varela said. “We were a family of eight kids — four boys and four girls. The economical situ- ation in Brazil was extreme hard- ship and those things cost money. At that time there was no money to buy a proper soccer ball.” Varela, 65, has plenty of experi- ence to draw from as he takes over the Pendleton girls soccer program. “I am very excited,” he said. “A new coach, a new league. I am really happy we have a new league with Ontario and La Grande. When I coached at Madras, Mac-Hi, Ontario and La Grande were our biggest enemies. I am sure they are diff erent now.” Yasser Marte/East Oregonian Pendleton High School’s new head girls soccer coach Murillo Varela poses for a photo Thursday, July 14, 2022, on the Buckaroos’ home fi eld in Pend- leton. He coached last year as an assistant for the boys team. Varela replaces Kiana Rickman, who stepped down in the spring because her husband, Nate, was accepted into a physical therapy school. Varela started coaching in the Pendleton School District last year as an assistant with the boys teams. When he heard the girls team coach- EOL hands out honors la’s Madison Rico, Kyleigh Wheeler and Libby Hartley were named to the second IRRIGON — Irrigon team. junior Boyd Davis and Named to the honorable Riverside sophomore mention team were Riley Lantis earned Umatilla’s Piper second-team Eastern Dilley and Thalia Oregon League base- Trujillo, along with ball honors. I r r igon’s Shelby Davis was Harshman, Leyla selected as a pitcher, Gutierrez and Natalia while Lantis, a fi rst Gridley, and River- baseman, was chosen Chapa side’s Justin Tido, as an infi elder. Makaila Lantis and T he K n ig hts Clarissa Sanchez. finished the season T he Vi k i ngs 5-7 in the EOL and fi nished 7-5 in EOL play and 8-19 overall. 7-13 overall, while the Pirates were 4-8 The Pirates were 2-10 in league play and in league play and 6-13 overall. Davis 2-17 overall, and the Jaden Tiller of Knights went 0-12 in Burns, and Kade Kurata of league play and 0-21 overall. Vale were named co-play- Burns swept the all-league ers of the year, while Vale’s honors, with Melissa Medley Garrett Brown was named named player of the year, coach of the year. Ayla Davies the pitcher of In softball, Irrigon’s Pris- the year and Robert Medley cilla Chapa, and Umatil- coach of the year. By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian SPORTS BRIEFING Swim, bike, run for triple the fun HERMISTON — Area children can dive in, pedal and dash into the weekend during the Hermiston Kids Triathlon. The non-competi- tive swimming, bicycling and running event is open to youths ages 4-12. The younger children may use life jackets and training wheels. The event is Saturday, July 23, 9 a.m. at the Herm- iston Family Aquatic Center, 879 W. Elm Ave. Participant check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. Coordinated by Herm- iston Parks and Recreation, the registration fee is $10. For more information, visit www.hermistonrecreation. com or call 541-667-5018. Pendleton High holding youth volleyball camp PENDLETON — The Pendleton High School volleyball team hosts a youth volleyball camp Aug. 2-4 at the high school. Players in grades one through four attend 9-11 a.m., while players in grades fi ve through eight go 1-5 p.m. each day. The cost is $40 for players in grades one through four and $60 for those in grades fi ve through eight. The cost also includes a T-shirt. To register, contact coach Chelsie Speer at cspeer@ pendletonsd.org. BMCC hosts summer volleyball tournament PENDLETON — The Blue Mountain Commu- nity College volleyball team will host the Summer Slam Volleyball Tour nament on Friday and Saturday, July 22-23. Varsity teams entered are Weston-McEwen, Pilot Rock, Union, College Place, River View, La Grande and Burns. T he ju n ior va r sit y bracket includes Pilot Rock, Ione/Arlington, Irri- gon, La Grande, Burns, Weston-McEwen and Union. The JV tournament will be played July 22, while the varsity tournament will be July 23. Action begins at 9 a.m. each day. Admission is $5, $3 for seniors older than 65, and children under 10 are free. There also will be full concessions with a $5 meal deal. The tournament is a fundraiser for the BMCC program. — EO Media Group ing job had opened up, he applied. He began his coaching career in Madras in 1994, and stayed until 1999 when he got a job with the airlines and he didn’t have time to coach any more. He later coached a couple of years with the Madras girls program, but that was the end of his coaching career until he moved to Pendleton. “Work things changed drasti- cally,” Varela said. “I accepted early retirement. Now I can do the things I like the most and that is coaching soccer.” Helping Varela this season will be Ty Burchard, who is heading into his eighth year with the Bucks, and fi rst-time assistant Susana Argueta. “It will be big shoes to fill because they were so good,” Varela said of last year’s team that went to the 5A state playoff s. “Luckily, only three girls graduated. Right now, we have 34 girls, including the incoming freshmen. We will have a varsity team, a JV and maybe a JV 2 team. I have had a summer program on Tuesday and Thursday, but I’ve only had 12 girls. Some of them have jobs and family obligations.” Living and breathing soccer Varela was born and raised in Brazil and played soccer during physical education class at school. When he was 14, he got an opportunity to go to boarding school in another state. “Boarding schools, depending on what kind, can be hard to get in with placement,” he said. “There aren’t that many vacancies. I was lucky when I applied. As soon as I VISIT US ON THE WEB AT: www.EastOregonian.com got to the school, they had options of activities and one of them was soccer. The soccer programs were very competitive. That’s when I got really involved playing.” The level of play was beyond the typical high school soccer. “We played at a high level even though we were young,” he said. “There were thousands of schools competing at a high level. It was like a factory for the players going to professional teams.” Varela never went pro, but when he was 21, he went to Israel to further his education. He played soccer there for another four years. “After I got to Israel, I started playing on a regional team,” he said. “My travel and time outside of Brazil was a lot. I kind of lost track of time.” When he was through with school and soccer in Israel, Varela came to the United States, where he has been ever since. “I go to Brazil very frequently,” he said. “I have perks from the airline I worked for. My mother (Maria) is 93 years old and I go visit her. I also have two sisters who live close to her. I went in January and March this year.” His travel will be less during the soccer season, but for Varela it’s worth it for the sport he loves.
