E AST O REGONIAN
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022
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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
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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.