Rush Valenzuela

is a player for the Tokyo Lift, and has been with the team since Fall Ball. Valenzuela has played for the Chicago Firefighters.
==Official League Records==
Valenzuela joined the ILB as a player in the Shadows for the Chicago Firefighters with .
During the , Valenzuela's star ratings were completely randomized as a result of the blessing, resulting in Valenzuela becoming an , and a combined stat increase.
During the , Valenzuela received the modification as a result of the blessing.
On , Day 63, Valenzuela joined the Firefighters' lineup in exchange for Isaac Johnson at The Fire Safety Awareness Center via the . On Day 82, Valenzuela retreated to the Firefighters' Shadows in exchange for Johnson via the Ratified Voicemail.
On , Day 23, Valenzuela rejoined the Firefighters' lineup in exchange for Socks Maybe at The Fire Safety Awareness Center via the Ratified Voicemail.
During the December 9, 2022 Fall Ball, Valenzuela fell to the Tokyo Lift. 
==History==
Rush Valenzuela is the son of US Army Major Enrique Valenzuela and painter Lucia Leon Valenzuela. “We moved around a lot when I was a kid,” Valenzuela said in a livestream on his Tliktok account. “Chicago was one of, like, two or three places that I lived in for more than a year.”
After graduating high school, Valenzuela returned to Chicago. After spending several years working as a server and, later, bartender at a number of local establishments, he began working for the Chicago Fire Department. “It wasn’t some, like, big soul searching kind of thing,” Valenzuela elaborated. “I liked that it was something that paid alright and let me work nights. Plus, I mean, I was just realizing I was trans, y’know? The idea of being this hot firefighter guy was fun to me. When the position opened up at Olive’s station and nobody picked it up I figured, hey, if nobody else wants this then that’s some job security, right?” Valenzuela laughed and added, “And I mean, to be fair, I’ve kept my job this whole time.”
Like all of us, he is from Chicago. His jersey number is 2112.
==Creative Work==
Outside of his work with the Firefighters, Valenzuela works as a sculptor. His work is often characterized by its large size, use of bright colors, and incorporation of found and scavenged materials. In recent years, his work has become well known in the Chicago visual arts scene, and was featured in an exhibition of local Mexican-American artists at the National Museum of Mexican Art in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. 
The artist’s statement for one of the featured pieces, entitled, Cars 2 (1996), reads: “My work combines found materials, objects, and images with my own built and painted work to interrogate questions of place, belonging, and what it means to be your authentic self.” In contrast, when asked about his sculpture work on social media, Valenzuela replied, “idfk bro i just like to build things and see what happens.”
Valenzuela documents his artistic process on his Tliktok, where he also posts videos featuring the goings on around the Firehouse.
==Trivia==
*Despite featuring fellow players in past videos, Valenzuela’s Tliktok followers were not aware of his placement in the Firefighters’ shadows until he was first unshadowed on Season 22 Day 63. Upon discovering this, Valenzuela’s comments became filled with questions on the relationship statuses and availability of his teammates.
*When asked when he heard the Call, Valenzuela has given a variety of answers, ranging from, “during Season 3,” to, “the first day of Season 1,” to, “what day of the week is it? Tuesday? So like… two weeks ago yesterday, I think?”
*Between artistic experiments and videos filmed for social media, Valenzuela has attached a number of objects to teammate Socks Maybe, including but not limited to paintbrushes, sponges, a $2000 camera, a much cheaper camera following concerns from teammates, ice skates, and a power drill.
*Valenzuela is known among his team for his good humor and friendly attitude. When asked about him, teammate Gita Sparrow remarked, “He’s always the first person replying in the group chat when I ask if anyone wants to go to 7/11 at 1 AM or go out for brunch at 9 AM.” Sparrow then added, “Kind of makes me wonder when he sleeps.”
*Valenzuela is good friends with fellow member of the original Firefighters’ shadows, Conrad Twelve. Since Twelve’s move to the Seattle Garages in the Season 22 elections, Valenzuela has allegedly kept hir updated on team gossip by sending hir memes based off team interactions.
==Fan Works==
===Fanfiction===
For more fanfiction, see the Rush Valenzuela tag on AO3.
* meet the new guy by waltztangocache - Rush Valenzuela's social media followers react to him being brought out of the shadows.
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Category:Former Shadows Players