Charrería and Escaramuza originate from Hispanic equestrian traditions and horse husbandry, evolving into distinct sports and disciplines. Originally, they were created to help herders manage livestock, but now they have turned into a challenging but fun sport for all. FHS represented Virginia in the national competition by a diverse group of students across grade levels.
Often, people begin this sport at a young age when family friends invite them into a team, which is what freshman Tannia Covarrubias-Arellano did. Arellano goes to FHS and alongside her teammates, they qualified for nationals and represented Virginia.
She expresses how she felt before performing by saying, “I was very excited but also very nervous and was overthinking … I cope by just thinking positive thoughts and trying to relax my mind.” It’s important to try to remain calm before going to perform since people could mess up by just being scared. Practice is also an important factor for not messing up, as Arellano shares, “We started practice in May and we finished in September so we got plenty of time to work on ourselves.”
Freshman Emily Galvez explained the scoring system of the sport, saying “It’s a point system, they can earn points but also lose them since they have a certain amount of points that they have to achieve for each routine, and if they don’t reach the number then it lowers their score… in order to go on they have to get a certain amount of points which our team did not reach.”
One unique thing about the routines is that they have to incorporate certain moves into it. “They have to do a lot of tricks but some examples are when they have to stand in place and spin on the horse, and when they have to intersect each other in the middle,” said Galvez.
Another teammate, senior Juliette Gomez-Garcia, who was also very excited to perform, explains some of the hardest and most fun things in her routine. Gomez-Garcia says, “I love it when we spin on the horses since it’s fun … the hardest part is when we cross because we can crash and could potentially get hurt or even die.” Riding horses can be very dangerous with many people getting seriously injured, which is why it’s important to always wear proper protection and gear.
Playing sports is not only a great way to make new friends and create memories, but it’s also great for educational purposes. Junior Ashley Luna Barrcre does Escaramuza for that reason, saying, “I do it because it helps me become closer to my culture and also makes my family very proud of me.” Having a supportive family is very important to creating a future with a sport since it helps tremendously to have supporters who follow you along your journey. The girls did very well in the highly competitive competition and represented not only FHS, but Virginia amazingly.
