Jarrell Jerome stars as Anthony Robles in “Can’t Be Destroyed,” a biopic about Robles’ life that premieres at the Aspen Filmfest on Friday at 5 p.m. He won the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championship despite having only one leg.
In the history of NCAA sports, there may not have been a championship as improbable, extraordinary and inspiring as Anthony Robles’ 2011 125-pound individual wrestling national championship, achieved on one leg.
Robles’ story is told in the new film “Indestructible,” which screens at the Isis Theatre as part of the Aspen Filmfest on Friday at 5 p.m. The film stars Jennifer Lopez as Robles’ mother and Don Cheadle as her wrestling coach and is produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
The Aspen Daily News spoke with Robles from his home in Arizona about his life and the new film. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Aspen Daily News: Let’s go back to the beginning. Where did you grow up?
Anthony Robles: I was born in California but grew up in Mesa Arizona. We moved here when I was 14 and that’s when I was introduced to wrestling. I’ve been in Arizona ever since.
DNA: You gave up your prosthetic leg at a very young age, like 3 years old. What do you remember about growing up and dealing with your condition? I don’t want to call it a disability because you’ve never dealt with it.
Robles: I call it my calling. That’s what my mother always called it. We tried with an artificial leg. But for me, I just remember wanting to be like everyone else, to run as fast as I could, to run with all the other kids, and I felt like the prosthetic leg was weighing me down. I couldn’t keep up with everyone else, and I felt like using crutches was my best option. They were more comfortable for me. It was more my style. So my mother told me, “It’s your choice,” and when she gave me that option, I gave up on the prosthetic leg and never looked at it again.
DNA: Kids are mean. Are you kidding?
Robles: There were times when kids would make fun of me or say things, especially kids who didn’t have the experience of being around another person, someone who wasn’t standing up. So growing up was hard. There were tough days, but my strength always came from coming home to my family because they didn’t treat me any different and my mom would always tell me that God made me this way for a reason and that gave me the confidence to give that back and the ability to keep fighting forward. It gave me strength and confidence.
DNA: Tell us about your home life. Do you have any sisters?
Robles: I have three brothers and one sister, all of whom are younger. Growing up we were all very close. They never treated me differently and they all had the same mindset inherited from my mother that losing a leg would never stop me in life. I sometimes look at things as puzzles. Whether it was riding a bike or carrying things with my hands, I could never do it. It was just about ‘how can I do it my way? How can I do it my way?’
DNA: You mentioned cycling, which must be life-changing in terms of getting around.
Robles: I have to call my mom. We have one of those foot pockets where you put your foot in the pocket and it holds your toe while you’re moving up and down. This was the way to ride the bike. And for the first time I fell off a lot. My mom was always supportive and brought me back and I did it over and over again until I figured it out. I got the bike for my birthday. But it was great. The kids in the neighborhood were riding bikes everywhere all day long. It was definitely a liberating experience for me. I felt like all the other kids, so it was great.
DNA: At what point did you decide you wanted to be an athlete and what attracted you to wrestling?
Robles: I like sports. We always watched the Raiders on Sundays. I played flag football in sixth and seventh grade and then we moved to Arizona… before my freshman year and I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any friends, but my cousin lived in Tucson, like an hour and a half from Mesa, and he started dragging me to his wrestling practices and the gym. One day he encouraged me to get on the board and I was left hanging. But what I loved about wrestling was that it was just me there, which was amazing for someone who just wanted to fit in. It gave me the power to control the story of my life. It was a constant struggle for me to show the world that what I didn’t have didn’t matter, and wrestling gave me that platform and that spotlight to show them, ‘Hey, look at me for what I have, not what I don’t have. ’ I loved it.
Actor Jarrell Jerome struggles with the life of Anthony Robles in “Unbreakable.” The film will be screened at the Aspen Filmfest on Friday at 5:00 p.m. at the Isis Theatre.
DNA: Was there any kind of natural equipment that you could get your hands on? Was there anything that really caught your eye?
Robles: At first it was all a handicap because I really had to figure out how to do the moves completely differently. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have a great coach, especially my high school coach, Bobby Williams, who said, “We’re going to focus on your strengths and hide your weaknesses. Everyone thinks your leg is weak, but you have certain strengths.”
One of them was that having used crutches all my life, my grip strength and upper body were strong, even though I was light. I, a 14-year-old wrestler, was only 90 kilos and I weighed 103 kilos. I had this natural upper body strength, so we slowly learned how to create a style that worked for my natural abilities, getting down to the mat and gaining control when they tried to catch me.
But it came about just through trial and error, going out and basically losing a lot, but having notes and information that said, “Well, you know it’s not going to work out, but here it is. It’s a possibility. Let’s go for it.” “I could train for my opponents who were taller or in better shape, but there was no one in the wrestling world that could match my wrestling style. So it was really an advantage for me, especially mentally. Just knowing that no one else could do what I could do.
DNA: What are wrestling classes like?
Robles: Wrestling teaches you responsibility, self-confidence, humility, mental toughness, being strong, being willing to take a hit and keep fighting, staying still, all of that. These are great lessons that I’ve learned and been able to apply in my daily life. And I think it’s very helpful for young people today. There’s so much out there, on social media, always worrying about what people say about you and being bullied. Wrestling gives you these tools that allow you to overcome things in your life and it helped me 100%.
DNA: What was your lowest moment? Can you name a time when you thought about giving up?
Robles: There was one specific point, and they show a version of that in the film about what happened. It was my junior year in college and I had neglected my goal of being a national champion. I lost in the previous round and that really broke me because I was dealing with a lot of personal issues at home and I was mentally drained. I was tired and I put so much effort and time into wrestling that it fell through. It was heartbreaking for me. I didn’t know if I would come back for my senior year. I was actually thinking about going, and one of the things that made me come back was when I received a big package full of letters from a group of third graders and they named me Hero of the Week.
Their teacher had shared my story with them. They had watched several video clips and after my loss they decided to write me up as their “Hero of the Week” and they shared with me how my story inspired them to overcome their problems. And that made me want to come back for another year because I felt like I wasn’t just fighting for a prize. I wasn’t just fighting for my own goals. It was about these kids. It was about other people who were struggling with things in their lives and just showing them that I was unstoppable. So I was very motivated to come back for more than just myself.
DNA: Who were your inspirations? Who motivated and inspired you when you were young?
Robles: The people who motivated me were my high school coach, Bobby Williams, and the coaches at Arizona State, but most of all, my hero and motivator has always been my mom. She was the one who always encouraged me. I have a little boy. He’ll be two in December. I’m in awe of how she raised me and my siblings and always taught us to believe in ourselves and do the best we can. So my mom is always the one I looked up to. This wasn’t an athlete. She was.
DNA: Were you raised by a single mother or was there a father in your life?
Robles: I never met my biological father. My ex-stepfather came when I was about 3 or 4 years old. But as people will see in the film, it’s not just about fighting on the mat. It’s about facing life’s challenges, and one of those challenges was him. He wasn’t the best father figure. He wasn’t the best husband. There was a somewhat abusive relationship there. So, unfortunately, I didn’t really have a father to look up to and like the man I wanted to be one day, so I really looked up to my mother because she was in a lot of ways to bring mom and dad together.
DNA: What do you hope people take away from the film?
Robles: I hope you take away just one word from me: unstoppable. I think you’ll be surprised that it’s not just a sports movie. Wrestling is just one part of it. What I’m saying is that we all struggle with things. It could be a real rival, or it could be a physical problem like a missing leg. This can be countered by abusive parents. There’s always something. Everyone has a rival. But what I want audiences to take away from this movie is that no matter what you struggle with, no matter what you’re up against, it’s all in your mind. It’s about how you approach the challenges you face. Are you focusing on what you can’t do in your life and what doesn’t exist? Or are you focusing on the possibilities, the odds, what you have? You can overcome anything in your life, but it starts with your mindset and ends with you. This is what can’t be stopped. This is your mindset. We’re all unstoppable.
