In the Search for Freedom
1/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 11, 2001
The tale of how Alexis Vila ended up in East Lansing isn't typical by any means. A young man fleeing a country rout with political unrest and little opportunity can hardly be considered run of the mill. But for Vila, he had no choice. He had to leave behind his family and friends all whom he would never be able to see again, all for the sake of freedom.
Wrestling didn't start out as Vila's means for freedom, it just kind of developed into his vehicle to escape the unrest of Cuba. He started as a 14 year old young man, just seemingly joking around when a coach took Vila aside and showed him a wrestling stance. While he initially had no real interest in the sport at first, his older brother began to teach him proper wrestling techniques.
"I began wrestling with my brother and really didn't want to wrestle at first, I just kind of wanted to box with him," said a smiling Vila. "My mother yelled at me to stop punching and start wrestling."
Words of advice that Alexis heeded, in fact, within three months of picking up the sport. Vila won the Cuban Nationals at his weight class, which was a feathery, 103 pounds. He would attempt to make the junior national team in the coming years, but was unable to get his weight to the lowest 119-pound weight class.
"I would eat and eat and eat, but I could do nothing to gain weight," said a still trim Vila.
While weight eluded Vila, success surely didn't. Vila went on to compete at his first World Championships in 1993 and won the title at 105 pounds. Vila went on to win the title again in 1994 and was runner-up in 1995. He competed for Cuba in the 1996 Olympic Games and won bronze. It was during the Atlanta Games that he began to grasp the idea of freedom.
For Vila, life as he had known it in Cuba would come to an end in the summer of 1997. Alexis knew that once he left Cuban soil, it would be the last time he saw any of his family or friends.
"I couldn't tell anyone that I was leaving, not even my mother," said Vila. "If I would have told anyone, friends or family, and they would have told anyone, they would have never let me leave the country. I could have never even got on a plane or boat again."
During the Pan Am games, which were held in Puerto Rico, Vila slipped away from his team after winning Pan-Am gold and headed to his cousin's house. There Vila called a friend, who had been his brother's coach in Cuba and had defected to the United States years prior, asking if there was any way he could get out. The friend, who had owned a grocery store, arranged for Alexis to take refugee on one of his cargo ships that made regular trips to the island for produce.
"I knew that I had no future in Cuba," explained Vila. "When I did not return to Cuba with the team, my mother, my family, my friends, everyone thought I was dead. But when I got to Miami, I was able to contact them and tell them I was fine."
Coming to the United States, Vila still had the desire to compete in wrestling. After all, it is what afforded him the opportunity at freedom, the chance to make a better life. Wrestling for Condedo Wrestling Club, he got an opportunity to wrestle all over the country. Tennessee, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona and California are all on the lists of stops that Vila has made. Vila now wrestles for the infamous Sunkist Kids Wrestling Club, with teammates that include former NCAA champions Teague Moore, Chris Bono and Sammy Henson. Alexis is no stranger to Henson. In fact, while still competing for Cuba in 1994, Alexis defeated Henson at an invitational held in New York.
"Now that I am here, everyone wants to train with me," chuckled Vila. "No one wanted to wrestle me then, but now we all wrestle together."
If Vila is to compete for the United States in any international games, he must write a letter to FILA asking for their permission to compete, as he is not yet a U.S. citizen. His goal is to represent the United States in the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece.
"I want to wrestle for the United States," Vila responds proudly. "I risked everything to get this chance and to come and live with opportunity for anything. I will be very proud when I become a U.S. citizen."
With a nation that has disowned you, how do you manage to get any of the life you left? Once he claimed political asylum, the Cuban government refused to release any of his records. Gone were any chances of ever seeing his family, as well as the degree he earned in physical education from the Instituto Superior de Cultura Fisica y Deporte Manuel Fajaldo. Vila was left with little to show for his years at the university, everything of value stripped from him, everything but his wrestling accomplishments.
And his expertise is what brought him to East Lansing. Never having proper equipment or facilities when wrestling in Cuba, Vila wants to help the Spartans excel through his years of struggle.
"I have much respect for these young men and to be a good coach that's what you must do," said Alexis. "I have got to show them all the respect and be their friends. That always makes a good relationship. I was never given a chance to train the way they do. I can learn from them, as much as they can learn from me."
The story of the fight for freedom couldn't have ended with a better match, Alexis and the Spartans. Although if you ask him, maybe there is one drawback to freedom.
"The cold, I freeze all the time," shivered Vila. "My hands, my face, my hair. It's always cold. When I don't have to work, I stay at home, because there is no way I am going out in the cold."