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February 10, 2010

Ricardo Fletcher: The rest of the story

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — Last Sunday one of our sports writers, Tyler Buckentine, featured Mankato East freshman wrestler Ricardo Fletcher as part of our coverage of the Mankato East Invitational.

A couple of days later, Ricardo’s adoptive parents, Claudia and Bart Fletcher, contacted The Free Press to tell us “the rest of the story.” It turns out Ricardo and his brother Leon, who is also on the East wrestling team, have led very interesting lives.

Claudia and Bart Fletcher were married back in 1996 and immediately began adopting children while living in Belgrade, a town just north of Willmar. By the time they moved to Luverne in 1999, they already had seven children.

While in Luverne, they adopted three more kids, including Ricardo. The Fletchers relocated to Mankato in 2006 and have since adopted two more children, including Leon.

Ricardo Fletcher spent the first 10 years of his life moving around various Guatemalan orphanages. Year after year, he watched younger children getting adopted while he was passed over because he was not legally freed for adoption until he was considered by many to be too old.

Finally, at age 12, the Fletchers found him and brought him to the United States to be part of their growing family. According to Claudia and Bart, they quickly discovered he was smart, compliant, soft-spoken and determined.

“Ricardo set out to tackle the task of learning to speak a new language, learning to read and write in a new language and learning about a culture and a land very different from those of his origins,” said Claudia Fletcher. She believed he would succeed, however, because Ricardo “was one of the most cooperative, intelligent and kind young men we had ever met.”

Leon, a Hmong child raised in Texas, joined the Fletcher fold in 2007. Although he was younger than Ricardo, the two started the seventh grade at East Junior High School the same fall because Ricardo had been held back a year due to English as a Second Language issues.

It was Claudia’s idea for the two to go out for wrestling. She had noticed that both were strong, good athletes and very competitive. Since neither was very tall, that ruled out basketball so wrestling seemed like a natural fit.

“I told them if they didn’t like it they didn’t have to stick with it,” Claudia said. “I think it was only two weeks and both were in the starting lineup.”

More than two years later, Ricardo is now arguably the best wrestler on the East squad. He has the most wins with a 23-4 record and should be one of the top seeds when the Section 2AA 119-pound weight bracket is released later this month.

“It seems like it was a good choice,” Claudia said. “They’re both having a lot of fun and both really enjoy it a lot.”

Claudia and Bart Fletcher, who is a United Methodist pastor, have written a book about their adoption and parenting experiences. They also do speaking engagements and blogs and are involved in a support group for adoptive parents.

For more information log on to www.3rdegreeparenting.com or www.outofmanyonefamily.com.



Jim Rueda is the Free Press sports editor. To contact him, call 344-6381 or e-mail him at jrueda@mankatofreepress.com. You may also read his blog at www.mankatofreepress.com.

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